Did Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) think we wouldn’t notice that Republicans’ chances of taking back the Senate are currently slim? Given the Biden administration’s serial failures, especially in taming inflation and reviving the economy, the field of embattled Senate candidates has ample time to turn things around. Scott’s vacation to Italy, however, is an unforced error that I would have expected from Joe, not from a man tasked with regaining a majority in the Upper House (via Axles):
Scott is chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which is tasked with regaining the GOP majority in the upper house. Republicans’ chances of retaking the Senate have worsened over the summer, according to polls and analysis.
Scott is already facing criticism for his management of the commission.
Vacationing in Europe while Republicans struggle financially and headlines about their midterm chances could further damage his standing among his GOP colleagues.
The substantial picture: Scott is sharply criticizing GOP critics who have criticized his work recruiting forceful candidates and managing committee expenses this cycle.
Republican candidates across the Senate are performing worse. In must-win states like Pennsylvania and Arizona, Trump-backed nominees are lagging behind. A leading Republican super PAC was forced to spend $28 million to support author J.D. Vance’s campaign in GOP-friendly Ohio.
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Scott made unconventional decisions while leading the commission. The NRSC spent more than $40 million early in the cycle, in part because many candidates struggled to pay for television ads without support from outside organizations, starving the party of last-minute funding.
According to the Washington Post, the commission canceled reservations in Pennsylvania, Arizona and Wisconsin last week, giving up the lower rates that come with advance reservations.
Several key battlegrounds where Republicans need to spend time – Phoenix, Las Vegas, Atlanta and Philadelphia – are top media markets where ad purchases are pricey.
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Scott approaches the Republican primaries with caution, not favoring any candidate in open competitions.
Both Scott and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell were unable to recruit two popular governors – Doug Ducey of Arizona and Chris Sununu of New Hampshire – who would have had a better chance of flipping Democratic-held seats.
The numbers: At the end of July, NRSC reported just $23.2 million in cash. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee observed $54.1 million in its account, more than double the GOP amount.
The Republican Party has been riding the political winds that have become gale-force in the 2022 midterms. You couldn’t imagine a better form of political powder to produce ammunition aimed at destroying Biden’s agenda. The script wrote itself at some points, but there was also a real possibility that the Republican Party could screw it up, and they did. The recent anti-gun package signed by a slew of Republican senators was a warning sign. With Biden’s approval ratings in the 30s, the GOP’s midterm election cycle was doomed. Nobody wants Joe Biden anywhere near them right now.
As we exit the dog days of summer, Republicans’ chances in the Senate have diminished because the National Republican Senatorial Committee has offered no support. The fundraising efforts lack much to be desiredand Mitch McConnell made surprising comments about the situation on the ground, stating that the Republican Party has little or no chance of winning back the chamber this year. Weeks before Election Day, the Senate Republican leader is already mired in defeatism.
The Federalist’s Mollie Hemingway ripped Mitch for giving up, and rightly so, noting that the candidates running are not as bad as the Kentucky Republican suggested in his statements about the quality of the candidates. The Democratic candidates have many flaws that should be highlighted as electoral fodder. And where is the NRSC chairman? He’s on a yacht in Italy. Scott shot himself in the foot even further when he criticized Biden for going on vacation instead of working. This is an incident in which Scott is not on defense, especially since he allowed the Senate map on his watch to be destroyed.
This reaction isn’t the first time Scott has been called out for his terrible job at the NRSC. In April, The Washington Post ran a lengthy post on continuing criticism of Scott’s tenure, particularly that he is using the NRSC to improve his fundraising position at the expense of the rest of the party (via WaPo):
Senator Rick Scott of Florida was publicly denounced by Republican senator leader Mitch McConnell, privately rebuked by his colleagues, and repeatedly accused of steering the National Republican Senatorial Committee in a way that benefited his own future over the candidates he was hired to get elected.
He has diverted much of his funds as NRSC chairman into his own accounts, while also diverting digital revenue from Senate campaigns and buying ads promoting himself that look almost identical to the spots he does for the national committee.
But in the seven weeks of turmoil since Scott dropped a provocative conservative political bomb on an unsuspecting party — as part of a plan calling for tax increases and the sunset of all federal laws, including those establishing Social Security and Medicare — he has not once expressed regret. Instead, the former director of a hospital chain and two-term governor, the richest man in the Senate, argues that he owes nothing to his critics.
“All my life, people have told me: You know, you’re doing it the wrong way. You can’t, you shouldn’t do that,” he said in a recent interview at NRSC headquarters. “I’ve been here for three years. Do you know how many people came to me and asked me, before they vote, what my opinion was on something and whether it was good for my country? That would be zero.”
Such intrusions from the inner sanctum of GOP leadership toward other senators and political operatives have caused unexpected cracks in what appears to be a banner election year for Republicans, who are one seat away from majority control of the Senate. Private complaints about how Scott has turned the NRSC into the “Rick Scott National Committee” have become common enough in some Republican circles that other jokes have been added to them. “All this for 4 percent in Iowa” is the punchline of one of them, talking about the damage he could do to the Republicans’ fortunes in November in pursuit of national ambitions.
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Another point of contention has been changing the way the NRSC collects funds from incumbent officials. Under Scott’s predecessor, senators who signed fundraising emails with the committee or agreed to have their photos used in NRSC digital ads received 50 percent of revenues and the names of donors.
Under Scott, the commission offered candidates 10 percent of the haul and donor names, with the rest going to the NRSC. Scott’s aides say the change will prevent the commission from losing money on appeals that raise little money, strengthening the NRSC overall. But the change comes at a time when other Republican efforts are trying to funnel more money directly to candidates because they are able to get better prices for TV ads than party committees.
The publication added that Scott has no objections to going to war with Mitch McConnell, who reportedly burned him for his committee management. Mitch’s bashing or being a contrarian has resonated well with voters outside Washington, which brings us to Scott’s next potential life goal after 2022. Perhaps he’s using the chairmanship as a springboard to run for president, something some of his predecessors have claimed they did after their time at the NRSC. The only difference is that Scott’s predecessors won the election.
Meanwhile, Scott is on the boat and don’t expect any apologies either. The Florida Republican was unapologetic about most things.
