Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) is reopening his feud with Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), suggesting that Florida's midterm results were less of a triumph than the governor made them out to be and that DeSantis should stop putting the spotlight on himself.
In an interview with the Washington Examiner, Scott said he had not seen the triumphant press conference DeSantis held hours after Republicans kept the governorship, a Senate seat, and other statewide offices. Scott did, however, paint a far less rosy picture of what happened, citing how narrowly Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) — who is replacing the term-limited DeSantis in January — won his race.
"I hadn't seen it," Scott said of the DeSantis press conference, according to the Examiner. He went on to question the framing of Election Day as a clear win for Florida Republicans, pointing to Donalds's margin as evidence that the outcome was tighter than the governor's victory lap suggested.
The Examiner's Wake-Up newsletter flagged the exchange on X, writing: "WEX Wake-up: House Democrats cry 'dirty pool,' SpaceX bypasses Texas moratorium, Rick Scott targets DeSantis."
The swipe lands as Republicans across the country are still processing last week's midterm elections, which saw Democrats make gains in several states. Florida partially avoided that wave, keeping the governor's mansion and a Senate seat in GOP hands, but Scott's comments suggest the results were not the decisive show of strength that DeSantis portrayed.
It is not the first time the two Florida Republicans have clashed. Scott, a former two-term governor who won his Senate seat in 2018 and was reelected in 2024, has long been seen as a rival to DeSantis within the state's Republican politics. The two men have traded barbs before, and Scott's latest remarks signal that the truce — if there ever was one — is over.
Scott has also been pressing his Senate colleagues to stay in Washington and work through the remainder of the year. In a statement and video circulated this week, Scott laid out the math: confirming all of President Trump's remaining federal judicial nominees would require just over 200 hours of floor time, and the Senate is currently scheduled for only 20 days in session before the end of the year.
"Here's some math the Senate needs to think about," Scott said. "If we want to confirm all of the federal judicial nominations President Trump sent over, it would take just over 200 hours of floor time. That's ONLY judges, not considering the other executive branch nominees. If we work 8-hour days, that would take us just over 25 days. (And that's assuming Democrats don't stall the process even further, which they will.) That's why we need to work every single day, as many hours as it takes. I'm glad Senate Republicans unanimously passed my motion to stay here and work. Let's get this done."
Scott has ruled out a challenge to Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) for minority leader, telling Townhall that he had "made [his] pitch" to senators twice before on how the upper chamber "ought to change" and that the conference had decided not to elect him. He said he supported Sen. Ron Johnson's push for a clear plan and that the priority now is confirming judges and passing legislation before Democrats take control in January.
For everyday Floridians, the Scott-DeSantis spat is more than inside baseball. Donalds, who won his race by a narrower margin than many expected, will take office in January with a weakened hand if the results are read as a rebuke. And with Democrats set to take the Senate gavel, the window for Trump's judicial nominees is closing fast — something Scott is trying to force his colleagues to confront.
Whether DeSantis responds to Scott's criticism, and whether the two men can work together on Florida's priorities, is not yet known. What is clear is that the Florida GOP's post-midterm glow is fading fast.
Our Take
Rick Scott is right about one thing: elections are about results, not press conferences. DeSantis may have kept the governor's mansion in Republican hands, but a narrow win for Byron Donalds is not the kind of mandate that justifies a victory lap. Patriots in Florida should be asking why the race was so close in a state that has been trending red.
Scott's push to keep the Senate in session is the kind of no-excuses leadership Republicans need right now. With only 20 days left and 200 hours of floor time needed to confirm Trump's judges, every hour counts. If the Senate goes home early and those nominations die, the blame will fall squarely on Republicans who chose comfort over duty.
The real question is whether this feud helps or hurts the America First movement. Scott and DeSantis are both allies of President Trump, and their squabble risks distracting from the work that matters. But if Scott's criticism forces DeSantis to focus on results rather than headlines, it will have been worth it. The voters who showed up last week deserve leaders who put them first — not their own egos.
