JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Florida Sen. Rick Scott has been underestimated throughout his political career — but he’s set to prove his critics wrong once again.
When he won his first race for governor 14 years ago, he beat an establishment Republican in the primary despite Tallahassee insiders throwing their weight the other way.
His re-election race was close in 2014 and again in 2018, when it took a recount to secure defeat over popular Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson.
His first term in the Senate has seen him, in many ways, on the outside looking in.
He ran the National Republican Senatorial Committee during the 2022 cycle, and expectations of a GOP majority in what was billed as a “red wave” midterm election didn’t materialize.
In a cycle where even Republicans were shaking off the reverberations of Jan. 6 protests at the Capitol, Scott yoked fundraising efforts to the Trump brand, suggesting as many as 55 seats could go Republican.
Spoiler alert: That didn’t happen.
Questionable campaign finance tactics became a story all their own, with the NRSC burning through 95% of the more than $180 million it raised through July 2022 — with at least $26 million spent on suspect text-message appeals that drove at least $8 million in refund requests before Labor Day.
Worth noting: Trump’s digital director, Gary Coby, was the architect of that effort.
The nadir of Scott’s tenure atop the campaign structure was at the end — when all eyes turned to the Georgia runoff and the Trump-backed doomed Herschel Walker campaign.
But the former gridiron great couldn’t get across the goal line.
During one appearance with Scott standing behind him, Walker regaled supporters with what at first seemed a bizarre story out of nowhere — a tale about a bull that escaped a pasture for the greener side after impregnating several cows, only to find there were only other bulls over the fence.
“So what I’m telling you, don’t think something is better somewhere else. This is the greatest country in the world today,” he said, finally getting to the point.
That didn’t go well. But Scott kept a brave face even after the debacle.
“While Herschel came up short,” he claimed after the loss, “I know he will continue to be a leader in our party for years to come.”
Scott also was forced to embrace another doomed Trump-backed candidate — the effete Dr. Mehmet Oz, an elitist in MAGA clothing who was a no-sale in the Keystone State.
How did it go?
Ask his opponent John Fetterman, now a sitting senator.
Scott called the 2022 cycle a “complete disappointment” during an autopsy interview with Sean Hannity.
He then spread the blame, writing to colleagues that “despite what the armchair quarterbacks on TV will tell you, there is no one person responsible for our party’s performance across the country.”
He followed up that debacle with another epic defeat, getting just 10 votes in a doomed leadership challenge to Mitch McConnell.
But that was then, and this is now.
Scott’s close relationship with Trump has paid off amid the former president’s stunning political comeback, something that may seem like a given now but certainly didn’t in the dark days of 2023 when Republicans questioned Trump’s viability.
No, Trump has not endorsed Scott to be leader of the Republican Senate caucus.
But he has given strong indications that he backs him, with concerted decisions to include Scott in speaking programs, including Tuesday night’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
This is especially notable because Sens. John Cornyn and John Thune were both conspicuously absent from the stage, and — per an informed Trump World source — “The president asked the senator to speak.”
For his part, Scott said Tuesday that he’s “hopeful” for one more consideration; namely, he wants Trump’s public endorsement.
“I’ve had a good working relationship with Trump,” Scott told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins.
“I knew him before he ran for office. So I’m hopeful he will. I mean, we’ve got to change the Senate. It’s not working the way it’s working.”
He stayed on message during his brief remarks Tuesday night.
“Well, the Democrats couldn’t stop him. The media couldn’t stop him. The liberal judges couldn’t stop him. A bullet couldn’t stop him. Can anything stop Donald Trump from becoming the next president and making America great again?” Scott asked the crowd, which responded with a resounding “No.”
Will Trump’s backing be enough to win in January when senators vote for their leader in the post-McConnell era?
That’s still an open question.
But when it comes to his political future, Rick Scott is holding the Trump Card, and right now that’s a rising stock.
