Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) on Tuesday announced a challenge to Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) for GOP leader after their party’s disastrous performance in the midterm elections and its failure to retake the Senate.
“The status quo is broken and big change is needed,” Scott said in a tweet. “It’s time for new leadership in the Senate that unites Republicans to advance a bold conservative agenda.”
Scott argued in a letter that his colleagues should be “far more bold and resolute than we have been in the past. We must start saying what we are for, not just what we are against.”
“I do not believe we can simply continue to say the Democrats are radical, which they are. Republican voters expect and deserve to know our plan to promote and advance conservative values,” he added.
McConnell’s position as leader isn’t seriously in doubt. On Tuesday, he said he “of course” had the votes to become leader again.
Some of Scott’s colleagues wondered aloud why anyone would vote for him over McConnell, namely because Scott is the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee at a time when Republicans were just crushed in the midterm elections.
“If you’re going to assess blame for election losses, I don’t know how you trade in the leader for the chairman of the NRSC,” Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) told reporters. “That’s just sort of basic to me.”
He added, “If not Mitch McConnell, who?”
Earlier this year, Scott introduced a controversial plan that called for raising taxes on the poor and reauthorizing Social Security and Medicare every five years. Democrats seized on the proposal and used it to attack Republicans all over the country.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
