Senator Rick Scott weighs in on a presidential run

Florida Senator Rick Scott is considering a late entry into the Republican presidential primary, a move that would make him the latest high-profile Florida Republican to try to snatch the nomination from Donald J. Trump, according to two people familiar with the discussions.

Should he enter the race, Mr. Scott, the former governor of Florida, both the front runner, Mr. Trump, as the distant second rival, Ron DeSantis, the current governor of the state. Mr. Scott would also join Mr. Trump, Mr. DeSantis and Miami Mayor Francis X. Suarez as the fourth Republican presidential nominee from Florida. In particular Mr. DeSantis could see his support further eroded if Mr. Scott adds to an already crowded field of Trump alternatives.

Mr Scott, who took office as governor during the 2010 Tea Party wave, has been discussing a possible campaign for several weeks, according to those familiar with the talks. Like other recent entries, Mr. Scott appears to be judging a GOP field in which Mr. DeSantis, with whom Mr. Scott has had a rocky relationship, has lost some support after a series of missteps and unforced errors.

Larry Hogan, the Republican former governor of Maryland, summed up this feeling in a recent interview with CBS News, calling Mr. DeSantis “one of the worst I’ve seen yet”. He added: “Everyone thought he was the man to beat, and now I don’t think too many people think that.”

On Thursday, Will Hurd, a moderate Republican and former Texas congressman, announced a long-awaited candidacy for president in a video message.

For Mr. Scott, who is 70 years old and wealthy enough to fund his own candidacy, the campaign could be the last chance he has to make a bid for the White House, a campaign in which he has long been involved. shows interest. If Republican Biden lost his seat in the 2024 election, it would be difficult for Mr. Scott or anyone else in the party to challenge that new president in a re-election four years later.

But becoming president would be a dramatic change for Mr. Scott, who announced earlier this year that he would seek a second six-year term in the Senate in 2024 instead of a national campaign.

Scott’s senior adviser, Chris Hartline, said in a statement to The New York Times: “It is flattering that some have raised the possibility of Senator Scott running for president, but as he has said so many times, he is running for re-election to the Senate.”

If Mr. Scott decides to enter the race, it is unclear how aggressively he would challenge Mr. Trump, who currently dominates the field even after being charged twice.

Mr. Scott ran a large for-profit hospital chain before venturing into politics. He served as governor of Florida for two terms before running for the Senate in 2018. In 2021 and 2022, he served as the chairman of the Senate’s Republican campaign arm, the Senate National Republican Committee, a prestigious baton senators often use to raise their national profile to reinforce. ahead of a presidential campaign. Mr Scott’s tenure was rocky, marked by a loss of money from the committee and criticism of how the money was spent.

Mr. Trump made it clear early on that he intended to maintain his grip on the Republican Party after the attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob on Jan. 6, 2021. Mr. Scott visited Mr. Trump at Mar-a – Lago, the former president’s private club, in April 2021 to award him a newly created award from the Senate National Republican Committee.

“This weekend I was proud to recognize President Donald Trump with the inauguration @NRSC Champion for Freedom Award,” Mr. Scott wrote on Twitter, posing in a photo with Mr. Trump. “President Trump fought for American workers, secured the border and protected our constitutional rights.”

At the time, Mr. Trump remained popular with the Republican Party grassroots, even after his baseless claims that the 2020 election had been “rigged” against him. Mr. Scott, as chairman of a party committee, seemed to find harmony with Mr. Trump to be in the best interests of the Senate nominees.

Mr. Scott has had a more contentious relationship with Mr. DeSantis.

Before mr. DeSantis signed a law restricting most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, said Mr. Scott that he was in favor of maintaining what were then current restrictions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. He also called for “cooler heads” to “rule” as Mr. DeSantis escalated a feud with Disney, Florida’s largest private employer. A months-long battle between the governor and the company stemmed from some Disney officials’ opposition to a new state law restricting gender and sex education in elementary schools.

Mr. Scott was not a favorite of some of his Senate colleagues. In 2022, he made an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to oust Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell from his leadership position, the capstone in what had become a toxic relationship between the two Republicans.