{"id":1740532,"date":"2022-11-16T06:47:27","date_gmt":"2022-11-16T11:47:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1740532"},"modified":"2022-11-16T06:47:31","modified_gmt":"2022-11-16T11:47:31","slug":"rick-scott-launches-leadership-challenge-to-mcconnell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/rick-scott-launches-leadership-challenge-to-mcconnell\/","title":{"rendered":"Rick Scott Launches Leadership Challenge To McConnell"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Frick-scott-launches-leadership-challenge-to-mcconnell%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1740532&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., launched a bid for Senate leader on Tuesday, challenging current Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell for the top spot in the Republican conference.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m writing to you today because I believe it\u2019s time for the Senate Republican Conference to be far more bold and resolute than we have been in the past,\u201d Scott <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/alaynatreene\/status\/1592617274716061696?s=20&#038;t=x28xPht6Nkk3SAUKHH173Q\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">wrote <\/a>in a letter to colleagues. \u201cIf you simply want to stick with the status quo, don\u2019t vote for me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Scott\u2019s challenge comes a week after the midterm elections yielded disappointing results for Republicans who had anticipated a wave election that would produce powerful GOP majorities in the House and Senate. On Monday, however, Democrats cemented another two years as the majority in the upper chamber after the Nevada Senate race was called for incumbent Sen. Catherine Cortez-Masto. The House was <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Politics_Polls\/status\/1592657849762840577?s=20&#038;t=xJj9O46QAKTG_54JYQqybw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">called <\/a>for Republicans moments before former President Donald Trump took the podium to announce his third consecutive run for the White House on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>Scott\u2019s move to rival McConnell also comes after the incumbent leader tasked with reclaiming the Senate undermined GOP chances for a Republican majority. In September, as the fall midterms heated up, McConnell complained about \u201ccandidate quality\u201d when discussing Republican nominees. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think there\u2019s probably a greater likelihood the House flips than the Senate,\u201d McConnell\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/08\/19\/come-on-mitch-mcconnell-republicans-need-you-to-step-up-and-lead\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a>\u00a0on Fox News. \u201cSenate races are just different. They\u2019re statewide. Candidate quality has a lot to do with the outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The comment provoked <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/09\/01\/rick-scott-savages-mitch-mcconnell-for-trying-to-sabotage-gop-senate-races\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">admonishment<\/a> from Scott in an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/opinion\/washington-versus-republican-voters\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">op-ed<\/a> published by the Washington Examiner.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUltimately, though, when you complain and lament that we have \u2018bad candidates,\u2019 what you are really saying is that you have contempt for the voters who chose them,\u201d Scott wrote. \u201cNow we are at the heart of the matter. Much of Washington\u2019s chattering class disrespects and secretly (or not so secretly) loathes Republican voters.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>[READ:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/11\/10\/the-case-against-mitch-mcconnell-for-leader\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Case Against Mitch McConnell For Leader<\/a>]<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>McConnell botched the fall midterms by spending to protect incumbent allies from Republican challengers over candidates in competitive races that could have picked up key seats held by Democrats. McConnell\u2019s super PAC, the Senate Leadership Fund, spent more than $6 million to defeat Alaska Republican Kelly Tshibaka against GOP incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski. On the other hand, Republicans in Arizona and New Hampshire, who were both battling well-funded Democrat incumbents within the polls\u2019 margins of error, were <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/10\/26\/mcconnell-super-pac-bails-on-new-hampshire-senate-race-after-polls-show-a-dead-heat\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">abandoned <\/a>by the Senate minority leader. <\/p>\n<p>McConnell is now left to defend his perch in leadership after Republican losses in New Hampshire, Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Nevada have kept the GOP from claiming the majority. Failure to capture the upper chamber has sparked a backlash among members who have been calling for a delay in leadership elections scheduled for this week. <\/p>\n<p>Throughout the midterms, Scott, this cycle\u2019s chair of the National Republican Senate Committee (NRSC), spent on candidates left hung out to dry by McConnell. Under Scott, the NRSC spent nearly\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.opensecrets.org\/parties\/indexp.php?cycle=2022&#038;cmte=NRSC\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">$10 million<\/a>\u00a0for Republican venture capitalist Blake Masters in Arizona, more than it spent on any other candidate this cycle, and put<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Scott&#8217;s run to rival McConnell comes after the incumbent leader tasked with reclaiming the Senate undermined GOP chances for the majority.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":494,"featured_media":1740535,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1740532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1740532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/494"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1740532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1740532\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1740535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1740532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1740532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1740532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}