Rick Scott vying for Senate leadership role, but gun rights advocates oppose his bid

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Fresh off a resounding reelection victory, Florida Sen. Rick Scott jumped into a hotly contested, three-way bid for the powerful role of Senate Majority Leader, pitting himself against two establishment favorites in a decision to be decided Wednesday via secret ballot.

Scott, who won a second term last Tuesday as the GOP gained control of the U.S. Senate, is lobbying hard for the job, racking up endorsements and making a big push on social media.

But he is not popular with his Senate colleagues, some of whom blame him for Republicans losing the Senate majority in 2022. And he is facing fierce opposition from gun rights advocates critical of his role in enacting Florida’s gun control laws and supporting a national red flag law.

They don’t want him in the job, which would allow him to set the Senate’s calendar, schedule floor debates and control judicial appointments.

“We don’t want political party hacks. We don’t want middle-of-the-road gun grabbers,” said Luis Valdes, Florida state director for Gun Owners of America. “We want Second Amendment patriots.”

The selection of a new majority leader is turning into a test of how much control President-elect Donald Trump will exert over the Senate. On a Sunday morning show on Fox, Scott said he was “texting back and forth” with Trump, hoping to win his endorsement and then his Senate colleagues’ vote.

The two front-runners — Texas Sen. John Cornyn and minority whip Sen. John Thune of South Dakota — are allies of outgoing leader Mitch McConnell and establishment favorites who have bumped heads with Trump in the past. Both spent the last year trying to restore their relationship with Trump.

Trump has not made an endorsement, but made it clear in a post on his Truth Social platform that whoever wants that leadership role “must agree to Recess Appointments (in the Senate!), without which we will not be able to get people confirmed in a timely manner.”

All three said they would act quickly to appoint Trump’s nominees, The New York Times reported.

Scott has been a Trump loyalist and has received endorsements from Trump allies, including his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump. Tucker Carlson praised Scott on X as “the only candidate who agrees with Donald Trump” and urged his followers to call their senators “and demand a public endorsement of Rick Scott.”

The new majority leader should renounce any past support for gun control, block all gun control measures from the senate floor, appoint only pro-gun rights judges, and bring forward pro-gun legislation like a national constitutional carry act, Valdes and other national gun advocates said.

They oppose Scott running the Senate because as Florida’s governor he signed historic gun regulations into law that raised the minimum age of purchase for long guns from 18 to 21, banned “bump stocks,” created a waiting period for purchases, and created a red flag law that allows law enforcement to remove guns from people who are considered a threat to themselves and others.

The legislative package was adopted after the 2018 shooting massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland that left 17 dead.

“In the same way you can’t just be ‘a little pregnant’, you’re either for the Second Amendment or you’re not,” said Dana Loesch, a conservative radio host and former spokeswoman for the NRA.

The National Gun Owners of America sent out an email this week outlining their concerns about all three senators. Cornyn was the prime sponsor and whip for President Biden’s 2022 “Bipartisan Safer Communities” gun-control bill and the 2018 National Instant Criminal Background Check bill.

Scott voted against the bipartisan safety act, but gun advocates noted he voted to give the Biden administration millions for gun research in 2024.

Scott also is not generally liked by his fellow senators, who lambasted his mishandling of the 2022 midterms as chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, saying he failed to recruit top-quality candidates and cost Republicans control of the Senate.

But Scott countered that he has been talking with his Republican colleagues in the Senate to get their vote and made a public appeal on social media.

“Guess what? They want change,” Scott said on the Fox “Sunday Morning Futures” show. “They know that Trump has a mandate. They want to be part of that mandate.”

Senior Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who’s been tapped by Trump to be his secretary of state, said on X that he would be “voting for my colleague … to be our next Senate GOP leader.”

Other Senators who said they would vote for Scott include Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Rand Paul of Kentucky.

Scott has also received endorsements from Turning Point founder Charlie Kirk, conservative talk show host Dan Bongino, billionaire Elon Musk and Steve Bannon — all influential Trump supporters.

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