Sen. Rick Scott Picks Former Trump Rivals for Campaign Finance Committee

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) speaks at CPAC Texas at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas on Aug. 5, 2022. (Bobby Sanchez for The Epoch Times)

Florida Sen. Rick Scott’s 2024 bid for reelection will be supported by several big-name Republicans, including four of former President Donald Trump’s 2016 rivals for the GOP presidential nomination.

Among the Republicans filling out the senator’s national finance committee as honorary co-chairs are former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, former Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, and Florida’s senior Sen. Marco Rubio—all of whom were bested by Mr. Trump in the 2016 presidential primaries.

Other noteworthy names on the list include Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), 2012 presidential contender and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, brewery heir August Anheuser Busch III, and former U.S. Ambassador Mel Sembler.

In announcing the committee members on Aug. 2, Mr. Scott said he felt the assembled team would set him on the path to victory.

“I’m Chuck Schumer and national Democrats’ top enemy this cycle, and you can bet that they are going to spend millions upon millions to air false attacks and lies against me,” he said in a statement.

“I’ve been traveling the state meeting with Floridians on my 67 Counties Sunshine Tour, and I’ve been working hard to raise money so we have the resources to counter Democrats’ phony attacks. I look forward to continuing to fight for Florida families in the U.S. Senate and appreciate everyone on my finance team who will help ensure we keep the Democrats’ failed socialist policies out of Florida.”

First Term

Mr. Scott was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2018 after serving two terms as Florida’s governor. Since then, he has established himself as a rival to Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, with whom he has clashed on several occasions.

Last year, amid the GOP’s midterm disappointment, he launched a failed bid to unseat the Kentucky Republican as leader, charging that the status quo within the party was “broken” and in need of a change.

“We know that chief among our problems in races across America was a lack of Republican voter turnout. There may be many reasons for that, but after traveling the country to support our candidates, I believe voters want a plan. They are begging us to tell them what we will do when we are in charge,” he wrote in a letter to colleagues.

“Unfortunately, we have continued to elect leadership who refuse to do that and elicit attacks on anyone that does. That is clearly not working, and it’s time for bold change. The voters are demanding it.”

As the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), Mr. Scott also took issue with Mr. McConnell’s pre-election comments downplaying expectations of a Republican Senate majority due to “candidate quality.”

In a Sept. 1 op-ed for the Washington Examiner, he called out the minority leader’s “trash-talking” as “an amazing act of cowardice … treasonous to the conservative cause.”

Following the election, the Florida senator found his own leadership under scrutiny as senators called for an independent audit of the NRSC’s election spending on his watch. That audit does not appear to have materialized, however.

Mr. Scott has also sought to distinguish himself as a foil to what he contends to be the Biden administration’s “attempt to erase capitalism.”

In May, he issued a travel advisory for Sunshine State visitors espousing socialist views.

“Florida is openly hostile toward Socialists, Communists, and those who enable them,” he warned. “Before traveling to Florida, please understand that the state of Florida devalues and marginalizes the contributions of, and the challenges faced by, Socialists and others who work in the Biden Administration.”

Attempts to “spread the oppression and poverty that Socialism always brings” would not be accepted by Floridians but would “fail and be met with laughter and mockery,” Mr. Scott said.

Thus far, his reelection campaign has been endorsed by the Republican Jewish Coalition, the Club for Growth, the Senate Conservatives Fund, the 60 Plus Association, and 59 Florida sheriffs, among others.

Relationship With Trump

Mr. Scott’s embrace of some of the 45^th president’s former opponents and critics comes amid his decision not to endorse Mr. Trump’s third presidential bid despite the two Republicans’ alignment in the past.

In early 2016, then-Gov. Scott shocked politicos by complimenting then-presidential candidate Trump in a USA Today op-ed for “capturing the frustration of many Americans after seven years of President Obama’s very intentional government takeover of the U.S. economy.”

At the time, two other high-profile Floridians—Mr. Bush and Mr. Rubio—were still in the race.

When Mr. Scott later challenged incumbent Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson for his seat, it was with the urging and support of Mr. Trump. And in April 2021, when Mr. Trump was under fire over the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol breach, Mr. Scott presented him with a “Champion for Freedom” award, praising his accomplishments as president.

Yet despite the two politicians’ congenial relationship, Mr. Scott has not endorsed Mr. Trump in his bid to reclaim the White House.

In fact, during a February interview with The Palm Beach Post, the senator declined twice to do so, stressing, “I’m focused on my race.”

In June, rumors swirled that the senator was considering a presidential run himself—a move that would make him the fourth high-profile Floridian to throw their hat in the ring.

But given Wednesday’s announcement of his reelection campaign’s finance committee, it seems unlikely Mr. Scott will seek the nation’s highest office just yet.