Florida Sen. Rick Scott refuses to endorse Mitch McConnell for majority leader

Florida Sen. Rick Scott refuses to endorse Mitch McConnell for majority leader after Trump tried to recruit him to run against Kentucky senator

  • Florida Sen. Rick Scott wouldn’t commit to voting for Mitch McConnell to serve as majority leader should the upper chamber return to Republican hands 
  • ‘There’ll be an election,’ Scott said at the Christian Science Monitor breakfast Wednesday, adding that he was unsure if anyone would run against McConnell 
  • Scott, who has been encouraged by former President Donald Trump to run against McConnell, added: ‘I don’t have a plan to run.’ 

Florida Sen. Rick Scott wouldn’t commit to voting for Mitch McConnell to serve as majority leader should the upper chamber return to Republican hands after the November midterms. 

‘There’ll be an election,’ Scott told reporters attending the Christian Science Monitor breakfast Wednesday morning. ‘Right now, I don’t know if anybody is going to run against Leader McConnell.’ 

Scott, who has been encouraged by former President Donald Trump to run against McConnell, added: ‘I don’t have a plan to run.’ 

Florida Sen. Rick Scott wouldn’t commit to voting for Mitch McConnell to serve as majority leader should the upper chamber return to Republican hands after the November midterms

Former President Donald Trump

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell

Former President Donald Trump (left) asked Sen. Rick Scott to run against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (right) for the top GOP Senate leadership position after McConnell wouldn’t go along with Trump’s ‘big lie’ 

In February, Trump made the pitch to Scott during a meeting at Mar-a-Lago, Politico reported. 

‘You should run for Senate majority leader,’ Trump told Scott, who is leading the National Republican Senatorial Committee this cycle. 

Trump and McConnell had a falling out once Trump refused to concede the 2020 election to President Joe Biden. 

Trump has dedicated much of his post-White House political life to taking out those Republicans who voted for his second impeachment or criticized him over the so-called ‘big lie’ and January 6. 

The ex-president has labeled McConnell ‘old crow,’ which is a type of Kentucky bourbon.

He hammered McConnell for giving Biden a win with the bipartisan infrastructure bill that passed last year. 

Scott has given Biden some political ammunition with his ‘Rescue America’ plan, which initially called for all Americans to pay some federal taxes. 

‘All Americans should pay some income tax to have skin in the game, even if a small amount. Currently over half of Americans pay no income tax,’ the original proposal said. 

Biden and other Democrats equated that to a massive tax hike on low-income Americans. 

The president has listed Scott as one of the top ‘ultra-MAGA’ Republicans.  

Scott also floated that all legislation would need to go back through Congress every five years, which could have a major impact on programs like Social Security and Medicare. 

Biden – but also McConnell – criticized these ideas. 

‘Let me tell you what would not be part of our agenda,’ McConnell said in March. ‘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 within five years.’