Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), who has put himself in the running to replace Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), attacked the GOP grandee on Friday for “caving to Democrats.”
“We have Republicans in the Senate that are caving to Democrats for all sorts of horrible bills. Now, remember this so-called infrastructure bill?” Scott asked a crowd during an event at the People’s Convention in Detroit. “That required Republican votes. Guess who gave it to them? Mitch McConnell.”
McConnell announced earlier this year that he is passing the baton as Senate GOP leader. Scott told the Turning Point USA-organized event that fresh leadership is needed to take the Republican Party forward.
“We are changing the Senate. And I’m running again. … There will be a leadership race, and we are going to win,” Scott proclaimed at the Detroit conference. Former President Donald Trump is set to speak at the event on Saturday.
“Donald Trump had four years. He’s gonna have another four years. What’s going to slow him down? Washington insiders. Cause he needs — he’s gonna need a House and a Senate that supports his agenda,” Scott said. “If we don’t get new leadership, we’ll get the same old stuff: more spending, more debt, higher interest rates.”
Scott’s comments come after he recently claimed that McConnell removed him from an influential committee position after his first failed 2023 challenge to remove the then 80-year-old party leader. “I got kicked off of Commerce [Committee]. I mean, that’s clearly retaliation, no ifs, ands, or buts about it,” Scott said in May.
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Scott also publicly butted heads with McConnell’s choice of strategy during Georgia Senate hopeful Herschel Walker’s campaign. The Scott camp allegedly questioned the party leader’s commitment to pulling off a win in Georgia, criticizing McConnell for waiting until the eleventh hour to invest funds into the Walker campaign. Walker lost the race by under 3% of the vote.
Scott is joining Sens. John Thune (R-SD) and John Cornyn (R-TX) in the contest to take on McConnell’s leadership mantle.
