Florida Gov. Rick Scott and the Democrat he’s looking to unseat, Bill Nelson, may both make an appearance in Washington this week to lay claim to the same Senate seat.
Scott has declared victory in the Florida Senate race, and is already planning to visit Washington this week for orientation and to vote in the Republican Conference leadership elections, his aides told the Washington Examiner on Monday. While he’s not a sitting senator yet who can vote on the floor, Scott is free to join with other Republicans and vote for who he thinks should lead the party starting next year.
“Sen.-elect Scott will be traveling to D.C. this week to participate in some new-member orientation activities, including the photo, and will be voting in leadership elections,” spokesman Chris Hartline told the Washington Examiner.
Scott’s opponent holds that Senate seat today, and while Nelson’s team didn’t respond to requests for information about his travel plans this week, Nelson has indicated he’s not giving up on his seat yet, which makes him likely to appear for the Democratic leadership elections.
[Read more: Rick Scott: ‘Sore loser’ Bill Nelson trying to ‘steal this election’]
Nelson, who has held the position since 2000, never conceded the Nov. 6 race to Scott and is urging a meticulous recount of Florida’s more than 8.1 million ballots cast in the Nov. 6 election. A machine recount of all ballots is underway and must be completed by Thursday, although Palm Beach County has said it won’t be able to make that deadline.
A second, hand recount is also possible depending on the closeness of the race.
The current and unofficial tally shows Scott in the lead by about 12,000 votes. Nelson has called on Scott to abstain from any oversight role as governor over the recount.
“As the recount in the Senate race continues, we should have a common goal; and that is to make sure that every lawful vote is counted and counted as the voter intended,” Nelson said.
