DETROIT, Mich. — Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview at the Turning Point Action People Conference that he thinks the 2024 election is very important, but that he expects Republicans, and particularly former President Donald Trump, to have the upper hand.
“Number one, we need to win the White House, the House and the Senate,” Scott said in an on-camera interview Friday. “Here’s why: If we don’t win the White House, we can’t have a secure border. That’s number one. Number two, if we don’t have all three, we can’t get spending in check. So inflation is not going to go away. It’s going to get worse and worse. Interest rates are never going to go down. Number two, if we don’t want to have a woke military, a weak military, we need a president that cares about the military and a House and a Senate that cares about the military. So if you look at almost every issue that we’re dealing with, woke military, inflation, interest rates, it’s all going to tie back to winning this election. So think about a poor kid like me. I grew up in public housing, I was born to a single mother, I grew up in a country where my mother could legitimately say I could be anything I wanted. If you can’t afford to put food on the table, if you can’t afford to pay rent, if you can’t afford to pay gas for your car, if you can’t afford to buy a car, it’s not a great life. That’s just the way it is in this country. So if we want to give opportunity to everyone, we’ve got to win this election.”
Senator Scott, who was present with most of the Senate Republicans when President Trump met with the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) last Thursday, said the meeting between President Trump and Senate Republicans was “a catalyst for unity.”
“First of all, it’s uplifting and uniting,” Scott said. “President Trump is going to win. We all need to get out there and do our part, vote, get all our friends to vote, be poll watchers and do all of that stuff. But right now, I believe President Trump is going to win this election, but he needs the House and the Senate to work with him. He’s united. He’s been very kind to everybody, he’s talked about what he wants to accomplish, and we’re all united in wanting to help him accomplish those things, because opportunity for every family is key to the success of our country.”
Scott said what Republicans need to do to win is to launch lawsuits challenging Biden’s deeply unpopular policies.
“Everybody knows Biden’s policies are bad. Republican, Democrat, independent, they don’t want an open border,” Scott said. “They don’t want more drugs, they don’t want more criminals, they don’t want more terrorists. That’s No. 1. We have to make sure everybody understands that Biden is doing that. Biden had an opportunity to keep the border secure like Trump did, and he chose not to. Every state across the country, they’re seeing the problem. They’re seeing the fentanyl deaths. They’re seeing the criminals coming in. So that’s No. 1. And everybody’s seeing inflation in this country. So, on those two issues alone, I think Trump is going to win. Now, the key is, we get out to vote. What they’re talking about here at Turning Point is a grassroots effort, because that’s really the key. In the 2018 election, I needed to get more votes than Ted Cruz got in Texas. Florida is a much smaller state than Texas. It’s a big state, but it’s not as big as Texas. So, how we did that is grassroots. People went out and got people to vote. That’s what we have to do to make sure we win.”
Scott also emphasized that as someone who has won statewide elections three times in a large state like Florida (he has already won two gubernatorial elections and one Senate election, and is seeking a second Senate term this year), winning statewide elections starts with winning local elections.
Republican presidential nominee and former president Donald Trump speaks to reporters at the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Thursday, June 13, 2024, in Washington. From left, Sens. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Roger Marshall (R-Kansas), J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) and Steve Daines (R-Mont.) listen. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
“First of all, we need to work with all the candidates across the country, all the Republican candidates, to maximize their voter turnout,” Scott said. “If we want to win a statewide election, we have to win all the local elections. I’m running this year. I’m going to get the same number of votes. Maybe I’ll get a little more because I’ve been in this job my whole life and this is my fourth election. But I’m going to get the same votes as the local Republicans. My goal is to help all Republicans win. We have to come together and win county commission elections, school board elections, mayor elections, state representative elections, state senate elections. So we have to win all of those elections, stay active, win every election we can. And to do that, we have to reach every voter we can, talk to every person. Every candidate has to talk to every person. I’ve probably shook hands with 850,000 people in the state of Florida over the last 13 years.”
Scott advises new Republican candidates running in major elections across the country to reach out to every voter they can.
“You think first, how do you win the election? Get more votes,” Scott said when asked for advice for new or first-time candidates. “So you’ve got to talk to as many voters as you can. You’ve got to look them in the eye. You’ve got to tell them exactly what you’re going to do. What are your plans to improve their lives? People vote because you’re going to improve their lives. This isn’t about race, this is about their lives. So will you help them get a better job? Will you make sure inflation is under control? If their kids go into the military, will you make sure it’s not a woke military? Will you keep us from getting into some kind of forever war? Because that’s what will improve their lives. You’ve got to talk to them. You’ve got to look at them. You’ve got to talk to everyone, everyone who’s willing to talk to you. Go to every neighborhood and place you can and talk to as many people as you can.”
Scott also said he’s encouraged that conservatives are coming together in Democratic cities like Detroit in battleground states like Michigan for this turning point event to take their message everywhere, saying he’s done something similar in Florida and encouraging all Republicans to get out there and fight wherever they can.
“Exactly. Look at the energy right now. I’ve been all over the country,” Scott said. “I’ve been all over my state. I’m going to visit every county. 67 counties. By July 2 of this year, I’ll be visiting every county in my state to talk to voters. And I’ll talk to every single person. I did the same thing when I was governor. So there’s incredible energy as I go all over this country. And you know what, there’s energy? Because people know Biden’s policies are the wrong policies. They know the country is going in the wrong direction. They know the borders shouldn’t be open. They know there shouldn’t be inflation. They know we shouldn’t have a woke military. If you look at all the issues that we talk about every day, they know this persecution of Donald Trump is wrong. So what we have to do is go out and tell people what we’re going to do to change that.”
When asked about the Republican plan to retake the majority in the US Senate, Scott said they would start by having him and Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) win reelection. Then, assuming the Republicans win West Virginia, where Senator Joe Manchin (D-WVa.) is not running for reelection, the Republicans would have 50 seats and the Democrats 50. In the case of President Trump, the Republicans would take control of the Senate, but under a Democratic president and vice president, the Democrats would keep control. Therefore, to win more than 51 seats, Scott said to look at states such as Ohio, Montana, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania.
Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) speaks to reporters at the RGF Environmental Group after a small business support event in Riviera Beach, Fla., Monday, May 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
“Number one, of the two toughest races for an incumbent, the toughest is mine and Ted Cruz’s,” Scott said. “So we’ve got to win Texas, we’ve got to win Florida. So right now I think Ted and I are going to win both because we’re working hard, we’ve got a lot of grassroots support, we’re raising money. It’s going to be hard, but we’re going to win. I think we can get West Virginia for sure, and then it’s 50-50. With a President Trump, we’re going to control the Senate. But with a President Biden, we’re not going to. So we’ve got to get to 51 states. I think it’s debatable whether we should win Ohio or Montana, but we can win both. We can win both. I think Ohio is going to be won by Trump, and Montana is going to be won decisively by Trump. So if our candidates, Bernie Moreno and Tim Sheehy, run good campaigns, they can win those two states. Sam Brown has a great chance in Nevada against Jacky Rosen. I think Trump will win Nevada and he will win Arizona, so Potash Lake has a great chance. There are a lot of other places where we have a chance, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan. Now, it’s going to be essential for Trump to do well. The way for Trump to do well is to do well in all the local elections.”
But the biggest thing Scott noted that’s so important for the Republican Party is that they all support Trump.
“We all need to come together and make sure we all understand the political persecution of Donald Trump. If they can persecute a former president and a leading Republican candidate, can they do the same to you?,” Scott said. “If we don’t want this to continue, we have to elect Donald Trump.”
