A feud that began months ago in the heat of the 2022 midterms between National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Rick Scott, R-Fl, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., seems likely to continue.
As Scott criticized Senate Republican leadership this weekend and revived an abortive leadership bid against McConnell.
On Sunday, Scott said that Senate leadership caved to Democrats on critical issues such as infrastructure, gun control, and the debt ceiling, giving voters no viable alternative to Democrats in the election.
On Fox News, Rick Scott blames Republican leadership for bad midterms performance, saying they "caved in on the debt ceiling, caved in on the gun deal, caved in on a fake infrastructure deal," which made things harder for R candidates
— Liz Goodwin (@lizcgoodwin) November 13, 2022
“We made it difficult for our candidates,” the Florida senator said. “We can’t do that.”
Typically, Republican leadership in the House and Senate develop a platform to run on before an election. McConnell did not set an agenda for what Republicans would do if they won back the Senate, instead relying solely on negative messaging against Senate Democrats and President Biden.
McConnell has the votes locked up to be leader though Scott has been bashing him over the decision not to have an election-year agenda. McConnell allies note Scott’s agenda gave Dems months of ammunition. The dispute will go behind closed-doors this week: https://t.co/iq7FOwIbjf
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) November 14, 2022
“What do we stand for? What are we hell-bent to get done?” Scott asked. “The leadership in the Republican Senate says, ‘No, you cannot have a plan. We’re just going to run against how bad the Democrats are.’ And, actually, then they cave into the Democrats.”
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“We have got to say what our ideas are, and let’s fight over those ideas,” Scott said. “And let’s act like a caucus and win on those ideas.”
Another recent development that might cause a headache for McConnell within his party came on Monday as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-Ny. announced that he and McConnell plan to meet to discuss how to thwart “MAGA Republicans” in the Senate.
What did I tell you?https://t.co/yV9jzOr615
— Andrew Wilkow (@WilkowMajority) November 14, 2022
Earlier this year, Scott made preparations to run against McConnell to be the Senate Majority leader if Republicans retook the Senate. As their prospects continued to dwindle earlier this week with Senate candidates Adam Laxalt and Blake Masters trailing, he reportedly decided against running.
In a 180, Scott revived his leadership bid on Sunday, saying that while he was focused on the Georgia Senate runoff between Herschel Walker and incumbent Raphael Warnock, D-Ga. he would consider running against McConnell.
In Georgia, Sen. Rick Scott reiterated his calls to delay leadership elections until post-runoff and didn’t rule out challenging McConnell.
“There's a lot of people who have called to ask me if I'll do it, and so I'm not gonna take anything off the table.” pic.twitter.com/53UDNlNIML
— Dylan Wells (@dylanewells) November 14, 2022
“A lot of people have called me to see if I would run,” Scott said after voicing support for postponing the leadership vote.
“I’m not going to take anything off the table, but my job right now is to do everything I can do to help Herschel Walker. I’m going to be there today helping Herschel. That’s what my focus is. We shouldn’t be having these elections.”
Additional stories you may want to read:
Sen. Rick Scott Issues Weekly Update on Biden’s Inflation Crisis
Florida Shining Example of Election Integrity as Swing States Stumble and Take Days to Count Votes
