ORLANDO, Fla. — U.S. Sen. Rick Scott is running for a second term next year and will continue to push his much-maligned “Rescue America” plan.
The Florida Republican senator had a rough year in 2022 after getting blowback from Democrats and also some Republicans over the controversial plan, which initially called for poor people and retirees who don’t pay income tax to begin paying them to have some “skin in the game.”
Scott backtracked on that part of his proposal, but told NBC News he was sticking to the rest of it, which includes calls to require reauthorization of all legislation after five years (including funding for Social Security and Medicare), cut the IRS by 50%, and impose restrictions on voting.
“I’m going to continue to push it,” Scott said. “I tell people these are my ideas. Let’s start fighting over ideas.”
The White House reacted to Scott’s announcement by again attacking what deputy press secretary Andrew Bates called Scott’s “ultra MAGA agenda.”
Bates told NBC News Scott’s plan would “raise taxes on middle-class families and schedule Medicare and Social Security to expire ... (It’s) fundamentally at odds with the wishes of the American people, and President Biden is firmly against it.”
Scott’s 2022 also included a failed bid for GOP leader in the Senate; he lost to Minority Leader Mitch McConnell by a vote of 37-10.
Scott went forward with his campaign for leadership despite his record as head of the GOP Senate campaign arm, which pushed controversial candidates such as Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania, Blake Masters in Arizona and Herschel Walker in Georgia. All three lost, which cost Republicans their chance to control the chamber.
Scott, a multimillionaire who self-funded two 1-point wins for governor, defeated incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson in 2018 by an even slimmer margin of about 10,000 votes.
“I’ve never lost an election, and I don’t intend to now,” Scott said in a statement.
“We’ve worked hard to turn Florida into a red state that elects Republicans up and down the ballot. But I never take anything for granted. … We’re going to keep fighting to do the things the people of Florida elected me to do.”
The nonpartisan Cook Political Report listed the 2024 Florida U.S. Senate race as likely Republican. Democrats will be playing defense across the country in several tossup seats, which may lead to a lack of national donor money heading to the state next year.
Former Democratic U.S. Rep. Stephanie Murphy left the door open for a run against Scott in an interview with the Orlando Sentinel last year.
Scott’s GOP colleague, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, defeated former Democratic U.S. Rep. Val Demings, by more than 16 points in November.
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