Big news in the Senate leadership race on Sunday afternoon, as Marco Rubio is all in behind his Florida colleague in the latest sign of momentum.
“I will be voting for my Florida colleague Rick Scott to be our next Senate GOP leader,” the Senator posted to X.
Scott actually got ahead of the announcement Friday on a national radio program.
“He’s going to help me. I spoke with Marco today. He’s been out there doing it. He’s going to continue to support me. He knows the importance of getting something accomplished. So he’s going to do everything that he can to help me. He was very helpful in my election. And he’s going to help make sure we get this vote,” the Naples Republican said on the Mark Levin Show.
When Scott challenged outgoing leader Mitch McConnell after the 2022 Midterms, Rubio was not among the 10 Republicans who broke from the Kentucky political perennial to back his home state colleague. This is a different dynamic though, as the race is wide open and Scott is building grassroots momentum.
Senators Ron Johnson, Bill Hagerty and Rand Paul are also on board. Outside of the Senate, former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy doubled down on his endorsement of Scott for the leadership role Sunday. Conservative opinion leader Charlie Kirk is also on board.
Scott continues to make his pitch to lead the Senate Majority, in a turn of events few foresaw when he got 10 votes in 2022 against outgoing GOP Leader Mitch McConnell.
The Naples Republican, who already has said he would win the race, touts his business experience and his ability to make deals because of them as unique value adds over rivals John Cornyn of Texas and John Thune of South Dakota.
During an interview on Fox News‘ “Sunday Morning Futures,” Scott contrasted his opponents’ “experience in the Senate” with his own “business background,” calling himself a “deal-doer who knows how to sit down with people and find common ground.”
“To get things done, you have to look yourself in the mirror and say ‘What do we have to do differently? We can’t keep doing what we’re doing. We have to be the change.’ That’s what Donald Trump got elected to do: to be the change. That’s what business guys do,” Scott said.
Trump has not formally endorsed in the race yet, but evidence is that his supporters are strongly behind Scott: an online poll the president-elect posted shows the Floridian with more than 93% support.
–A.G. Gancarski, Florida Politics
Tom Hutson says
They are BOTH Dirtbags
Rick Scott is a snake true RINO
He will fit right in with the rest of Daddy Warbuck crew
Hope he takes Baby Mussolini with him
They are all scum bags please do Florida a favor!
Deborah Coffey says
Of course Marco supports him because Trump does…thick as thieves…literally.
joe says
Now that “Little Marco” is poised to become Secretary of State and Mike Waltz will become National Security Advisor, it might be well to remember that the MAIN qualification Trump has made clear he is looking for is loyalty – but to him, NOT the Constitution of the United States.
That will make it easier to evaluate the selections he makes– they have met this disgusting, un-American standard. Our Founders would be appalled.