McConnell-Scott feud bursts out into the open

Source: The Hill | September 1, 2022 | Max Greenwood

The long-simmering tensions between Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), the chair of the GOP’s Senate campaign arm, are once again spilling out into the open, with a little over two months to go before the midterms.

McConnell — along with many other Republicans — has privately raised doubts for months about his party’s roster of Senate candidates and chances of recapturing control of the upper chamber in November. But with those concerns becoming increasingly apparent, Scott has begun to dig in his heels.

In an interview with Politico this week, the National Republican Senatorial Committee chairman acknowledged a “strategic disagreement” with McConnell. On Thursday, Scott penned an op-ed for the Washington Examiner in which he accused “the very people responsible for losing the Senate last cycle” of “trash-talking our Republican candidates.”

“If you want to talk about the need to raise more money to promote our candidates versus the Democrats’ terrible candidates, I agree. If you want to trash-talk our candidates to help the Democrats, pipe down,” Scott wrote. “That’s not what leaders do.”

Scott’s op-ed did not explicitly mention McConnell, a seasoned political operator known for taking a keen interest in his party’s approach to campaigning. But Scott’s message was unmistakable, coming just two weeks after McConnell downplayed the GOP’s prospects of recapturing control of the Senate and took a thinly veiled swipe at the quality of some of the party’s candidates.

“I think there’s probably a greater likelihood the House flips than the Senate,” McConnell said during an appearance in his home state last month. “Senate races are just different. They’re statewide, candidate quality has a lot to do with the outcome.”

McConnell’s remarks were a public acknowledgment of a concern that has mostly been expressed in private by many Republicans. In some of the country’s most hotly contested Senate primaries, Republican voters have nominated largely untested candidates, who were endorsed by former President Donald Trump but have struggled to get their general election campaigns off the ground.

……..

Tagged: , , , ,

Viewing 2 posts - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)
Viewing 2 posts - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

You must be logged in to reply to this topic.