Rick Scott declares his candidacy to lead Senate Republicans

Rick Scott is throwing his hat in the ring to lead the Senate Republican Caucus.

Scott joins a field that already includes Idaho’s John Thune and Texas’ John Coryn, both of whom have previously announced candidacies to succeed Mitch McConnell, who announced earlier this year that he would step down as Senate GOP leader.

“I’m a change agent,” Scott declared to Fox News’ Laura Ingraham on Wednesday night. “I was a change agent in business. I did turnarounds. I changed Florida, and we’re going to change the Senate. And we’re going to be the Senate that helps Donald Trump get his conservative agenda done.”

Scott said he had spoken with Trump earlier on Wednesday and that “he’s excited that I’m getting into the race.”

This isn’t the first time that Scott has run to lead the Senate GOP Caucus.

Shortly after Senate Republicans suffered a relatively disappointing midterm election in 2022, Scott took on McConnell for Senate leader and lost badly, 37-10. “Although the results of today’s elections weren’t what we hoped for, this is far from the end of our fight to Make Washington Work,” Scott said in a written statement.

Scott’s candidacy for GOP Senate leadership comes as he seeks reelection to a second six-year term in office. But unlike in his previous runs for governor or senator, the political landscape is much more favorable for Republicans, and he’s been leading comfortably in the polls to date.

Perhaps that’s why he’s been so confident as to publicly discuss his tenure at Columbia/Hospital Corp. of America (HCA), the hospital chain he helped run in the 1990s that ultimately was fined $1.7 billion in a Medicare fraud investigation, which as the time was the was the largest such settlement in U.S. history.

Democratic reaction

Scott’s likely Democratic Senate opponent, Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, fired off a statement upon learning of Scott’s plans to run for Senate Republican leader.

“Self-serving Rick Scott is a danger to Florida families and, as Senate leader, he would be a disaster for Americans,” she said.

“We all know if Rick Scott gets elected to Senate leadership, he won’t hesitate to push his toxic and out-of-touch agenda to sunset Social Security and Medicare, raise taxes on middle-class families, and force a national abortion ban onto the American people. There’s no line Rick Scott won’t cross to further his own extreme agenda. The stakes of this race just got so much higher, but voters are fired up and ready to retire Rick Scott — for working Floridians and for Americans across the country.”

Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried chimed in as well in a written statement.

“Scott’s self-serving agenda has failed Florida, and now he’s threatening to take his plans nationwide: He would enact a national abortion ban, slash Social Security and Medicare, and raise taxes on working families while cutting taxes for corporations and the wealthy like himself.”

The election for Senate Republican leader is expected to take place sometime after the November election.

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