Sen. Rick Scott (FL) rejected Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (KY) assessment that Republicans will have a tough time winning control of the Senate in November, bringing a feud between the two Republicans back to the surface.
McConnell recently drew the ire of conservatives for a gloomy take on the GOP’s midterm prospects in the Senate, blaming “candidate quality” for the “greater likelihood the House flips than the Senate.”
Republican nominees in Georgia, Pennsylvania, and other key races have struggled against well-financed and popular opponents, but Scott offered a more bullish view and pointedly disagreed with McConnell’s prediction.
The two previously butted heads over an 11-point plan the senator released in February that was panned by Democrats for suggesting that taxes be raised on half the country. McConnell publicly shut down those elements of the plan considered controversial in a rebuke of Scott earlier this year.
REPUBLICANS SOFTEN MIDTERM MESSAGING ON ABORTION
“Let me ask you this. Mitch McConnell says it’s 50/50 in terms of Republicans getting the Senate. He thinks we have a better chance in the House. Do you agree with that?” Fox News host Sean Hannity asked of Scott during a Monday appearance on his show.
“No,” said Scott, who chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the GOP’s Senate campaign arm. “We’ve got great candidates. Look at the background of these people. I mean, these are wonderful individuals that believe in this country. And they believe in the right things. We are going to win, but we’ve got to raise our money.”
It’s an optimistic line he’s maintained for months, ever since he introduced the 11-point plan, meant to be a blueprint for Republicans should they take back the Senate majority in the midterm elections. The plan was a break with McConnell, who has declined to put forward a governing agenda, apparently to avoid giving Democrats a target when political headwinds were against them.
“As a general rule, you know, probably this year’s election is going to be a lot about the Biden agenda. But I do believe we’re going to win,” Scott said at the time. “We ought to have a plan and what we’re trying to get done when we get the majority.”
McConnell publicly disparaged Scott’s plan shortly after it was released, in particular the idea that everyone should pay some amount of income tax, as well as the suggestion that federal programs be sunset every five years unless reauthorized by Congress.
“Let me tell you what will not be a part of our agenda: We will not have as part of our agenda a bill that raises taxes on half the American people and sunsets Social Security and Medicare after five years,” McConnell said at a March press conference. “That will not be part of the Republican Senate majority agenda.”
Scott escalated the feud with a Wall Street Journal op-ed titled “Why I’m Defying Beltway Cowardice.” In it, he defended his plan and decried the GOP’s decision not to put forward an agenda, saying, “If we have no bigger plan than to be a speed bump on the road to socialism, we don’t deserve to govern.”
Though Scott is a freshman senator, he’s a veteran politician with influence over the GOP’s midterm strategy as head of the NRSC. During his Fox News interview on Monday, he insisted that the party was running strong Senate candidates in key swing states.
“Let’s go through them. Ron Johnson’s running a great race against a radical in Wisconsin,” Scott told Hannity. “Ted Budd’s running a great race against a soft-on-crime North Carolina Supreme Court justice. Herschel [Walker’s] running a great race against Warnock down in Georgia. We’ve got J.D. Vance running a great race against Tim Ryan [in Ohio].”
Republicans still have not released a 2023 agenda, and instead, their strategy has been to rely on Biden’s low approval ratings and economic woes to sway voters to their side. The GOP needs to net just one seat to gain control of the upper chamber.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Scott and McConnell’s disagreements come against the backdrop of their relationships with former President Donald Trump. McConnell has kept his distance from and butted heads with Trump ever since the two broke over the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol, while Scott has stayed in the former president’s good graces. McConnell’s “candidate quality” remark was widely perceived as critical of Trump-endorsed candidates in competitive Senate races.
Earlier this year, Scott said he will support McConnell for majority leader, despite reports that Trump has tried to tap Scott to run for the top spot. “I can’t imagine there will be a leader besides Mitch McConnell,” he said.
