Sen. Rick Scott of Florida is running for re-election, he said in an announcement first shared with NBC News.
Scott unveiled his campaign staff hires and made it clear that he does not plan to run for president, as some have speculated.
“I am running for the United States Senate,” he said.
Scott also vowed to push through a controversial conservative plan that drew bipartisan condemnation last year. Scott released his plannicknamed «Rescue America,» when he led the National Republican Senatorial Committee and filled it with red-meat conservative proposals on welfare, immigration, gender, crime, and education.
But his proposal to have more poor people pay a little more in federal income tax was immediately criticized by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, as well as Democrats, who began criticizing Scott as a tax collector.
Scott told NBC News that he will not back down.
«I’m going to keep pushing him,» Scott said, noting that he’s still in his website. “I tell people these are my ideas. Let’s start fighting over ideas. If the Democrats have a better way to get people back to work, it doesn’t seem to be working. Labor participation rates have fallen. We are not creating full-time jobs. Look at the job market. All we’re doing in the last few months is adding part-time jobs. That’s not great economics. Inflation: maximum in 40 years. If we did what I put in my plan, it would be better for Americans, for all Americans.»
Anticipating similar arguments about the economy will be echoed by Republicans across the country as President Joe Biden seeks re-election next year, Democrats also point to annual inflation falling for six straight months, the costs of most goods are falling. — including gas prices since they peaked in June — and that wages are higher now than they were in the summer.
«We’ve seen this movie so many times,» White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said in a statement, comparing Scott to House Republicans who want to cut taxes that benefit the wealthy while cutting social services. .
«Rick Scott is doing the exact same thing,» he added. «Tripling his ultra MAGA agenda to raise taxes on middle-class families and schedule the expiration of Medicare and Social Security is fundamentally at odds with the wishes of the American people, and President Biden is firmly against it. Rather than sell to working families to wealthy special interests, the president is fighting to build an economy that works from the bottom up and the middle out.»
Scott acknowledged that he wants to reduce spending on social services and said he believes too many «non-disabled» people are out of work. Getting more of them to work, he argues, would grow the workforce and expand the number of taxpayers.
“I said everyone should have skin in the game. I wrote it. And my purpose is to do exactly what my mom told me to do: get to work,” she said.
As for being charged as a tax collector, Scott said: “It’s the opposite of what I do. I have cut taxes and fees, and have never voted for a tax or fee increase.”
Scott’s preliminary re-election team is made up of longtime advisers and agents who helped him win his first election in 2010 as governor, his re-election four years later, and his first Senate seat in 2018, as well as in his efforts in the last cycle of the NRSC.
They include: Jackie Schutz Zeckman (who last served as executive director of the NRSC and who will lead Scott’s political operation), Chris Hartline (who managed communications at the NRSC and will become a senior communications consultant for the campaign), Curt Anderson (a founding partner at consulting firm OnMessage and Scott’s chief adviser), Priscilla Ivasco (NRSC director of media affairs, who will become campaign communications director), National Press Secretary Jonathan Turcotte (former NRSC Rapid Response Officer), Chief Financial Officer Lisa Goodspeed (who held similar titles in his previous campaigns) and Senior Hispanic Engagement Advisor Ana Carbonell, who served in a similar capacity in his previous campaigns.
Scott’s tenure as NRSC leader was rocky and put him at odds with McConnell, R-Ky., whose supporters tried in part to blame Scott when the GOP lost a net Senate seat last year rather than gain control. of the camera, as many expected.
When asked about the status of his relationship with McConnell and whether the two had reconciled, Scott said: «I’ve known him since he lived in Louisville. So it’s OK.
Scott has also had a cool relationship with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, which stemmed from a dispute over his successor’s transition in 2018.
“I really don’t know him very well. I’m glad he keeps taxes low and jobs keep growing and things like that,” Scott said.
But DeSantis has also announced the same drops in unemployment and the same kinds of job creation the White House has boasted about, drawing criticism from Scott.
Now that DeSantis appears to be positioning himself for a presidential run, the governor could face former President Donald Trump, a longtime Scott ally who now also lives in Florida, in a Republican primary.
But Scott said he has always refused to weigh in on major primaries and said that would not change now. (As Governor of Florida, Scott backed up Trump in 2016, but that was only after Trump had the primary in the state).
“I am focused on my career. I am not focused on someone else’s career,” she said. “My goal is to have a good working relationship with all Republicans. But I don’t plan to get involved in an endorsement in a presidential primary. Think about it: all the Republicans considering running in a presidential primary I know of. So I’m going to focus on my career.»
In his three elections, Scott has never won by more than one percentage point, and he has spent unprecedented amounts of his personal fortune to win: a combined $149.5 million in his last three races, in which opponents of both parties have attacked his Former leadership of the troubled Columbia/HCA hospital chain and his track record Medicare Fraud Penalty.
Scott indicated that he is ready to do whatever it takes to win this time, but says the political dynamics in the state are much more favorable to Republicans.
“If you look at when I ran in 2010, there are 4.6 million Democrats. [registered to vote] in the state and 4 million Republicans,” he said. “Now what has happened is we have 4.9 million Democrats and 5.2 million Republicans. So every time I’ve won, I’ve won when there were more Democrats than Republicans in the state. So I hope people think I’m doing my job. But I’m not going to take anything for granted.»