Senator Rick Scott, R-Fl, didn’t pull punches against Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. in a recent op-ed for the Washington Examiner.
Scott’s op-ed came after McConnell said he did not feel bullish about Republicans’ chances to retake the Senate.
McConnell said that Republicans ‘can’t nominate somebody who’s just sort of unacceptable to a broader group of people and win.’
He received widespread backlash from the America First wing of the Republican Party, with many believing that he was actively hurting Republicans’ chances of winning back the Senate by talking poorly about Republican candidates to the media.
Subscribe to the Florida Jolt Newsletter!
President Trump was among those who criticized McConnell for his comments.
Trump is fuming at McConnell after he criticized his Senate endorsements: “He not good .. later on we’ll have to do something with him. The party is furious at him. We have to put up with him for a period of time, but eventually he’ll be gone. He’s bad news.” pic.twitter.com/bDLm6uMfOY
— Ron Filipkowski 🇺🇦 (@RonFilipkowski) September 1, 2022
Scott tied McConnell to the establishment in Washington DC, saying that McConnell is trying to stop Republicans from winning the Senate majority.
“Unfortunately, many of the very people responsible for losing the Senate last cycle are now trying to stop us from winning the majority this time by trash-talking our Republican candidate,”Scott wrote in the Washington Examiner.
The Florida Republican Senator went so far as to call McConnell’s conduct ‘treasonous to the conservative cause.’
“It’s an amazing act of cowardice, and ultimately, it’s treasonous to the conservative cause,” Scott continued. “Giving anonymous quotes to help the Washington Post or the New York Times write stories trashing Republicans is the same as working with the Democratic National Committee.”
Conservatives on Twitter were quick to come to Scott’s defense, with some saying that he has shown his conservative bona fides more than McConnell.
Compare @SenRickScott and @LeaderMcConnell… pic.twitter.com/owje4oNMTu
— Kurt Schlichter (@KurtSchlichter) September 2, 2022
Scott said he feels confident about Republicans’ chances in the Senate in the 2022 midterm elections and that the candidates on the ballot are ‘working their butts off.’
“Sen. McConnell and I clearly have a strategic disagreement here … We have great candidates. … And I think it’s important that we’re all cheerleaders for our candidates. … If you trash talk our candidates … you hurt our chances of winning, and you hurt our candidates’ ability to raise money. … I know they’re good candidates because I’ve been talking to them, and they’re working their butts off.”
In Florida and across the country, Republicans are on the defensive as 21 of the 35 contested Senate seats for this cycle are held by Republicans.
Senator Marco Rubio, R-Fl, is up for re-election in Florida. The Cook Political Report currently rates his race as ‘Lean Republican.’
Additional stories you may want to read:
Rick Scott blasts TX GOP for not being ‘inclusive’
The chaotic rumble for Florida’s CD 23
