WASHINGTON (AP) — Florida Sen. Rick Scott said Wednesday he will run for Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell resigns from the post, becoming the third Republican in the race.
Senator John Thune of South Dakota, the current No. 2 Republican in the Senate, and Senator John Cornyn of Texas have already announced their candidacy. McConnell said in February that he would resign after the November election but remain in the Senate.
Scott is a close ally of the former president Donald Trump, the Republican Party’s presumptive presidential nominee, and is likely to win votes from some of Trump’s closest allies in the Senate. Scott was one of the first Republican lawmakers to attend Trump’s hush money trial in New York. He accompanied the former president to court earlier this month and then defended him on television.
Announcing his run on Fox News, Scott called himself a “change agent” and said he had spoken to Trump earlier in the day.
“He said he was excited that I was in the race,” Scott said.
The Florida senator’s close ties to the former president could be an advantage, especially if Trump defeats Joe Biden in the presidential election. But Thune and Cornyn have also supported Trump after criticizing him in the past over his efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat and the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol by his supporters.
Scott also ran for Republican leader in 2022, challenging McConnell at Trump’s urging. He won 10 of 49 votes at the GOP conference.
“I think there’s a better way to run the Senate,” Scott said after McConnell announced he would step down as leader. “So we’ll see what happens.”
Scott and McConnell have been at odds since Scott led the Senate Republicans’ campaign arm in the 2022 elections, and the two took different approaches. The party fell short that year and failed to regain the majority after Democrats took power in 2021. Scott was openly critical of McConnell and convinced some of his colleagues who also said it was time for new leadership.
Republican senators have not chosen a new leader since 2007, when McConnell was elected — before most current Republican senators took office. Campaigning is already underway in private and one-on-one meetings as contenders try to convince their Republican colleagues to support them in a secret ballot. The elections will take place sometime after the November elections during a closed-door conference.
Scott, a former Florida governor, is also up for re-election this year and faces a challenge from former Democratic Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell.
Mucarsel-Powell said after Scott’s announcement that “the stakes have gotten so much higher” in the Senate race.
“There is no line that Rick Scott won’t cross to further his own extreme agenda,” she said.
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Associated Press writer Stephanie Matat contributed from West Palm Beach, Florida.
