Support came for Trump. Florida Sen. Rick Scott backs Trump over DeSantis, says time to 'unite' GOP

Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida announced Thursday he was endorsing former President Donald Trump for the GOP nomination — snubbing Ron DeSantis, Scott’s successor as the Sunshine State’s governor.

Scott, 70, argued in a Newsweek op-ed the time had come for Republicans to get behind one candidate to defeat President Biden, and that while any Republican candidate would be better than the 80-year-old incumbent, GOP voters had made it clear they want Trump back in the White House.

“I am optimistic that we can return America to its rightful position of economic and military strength and the undisputed moral leader of the free world, but only with strong leadership in the White House,” Scott wrote. “That is why I support my friend President Donald J. Trump to be the 47th president of the United States and encourage every Republican to unite behind his efforts to win back the White House.

“It’s time for the Republican Party to come together, behind one candidate, and declare with one voice that we are united in our efforts to defeat Joe Biden and rescue America,” Scott added, despite the first nominating contest, the Iowa caucuses, not taking place until Jan. 15.

Most Republicans in Congress — including most of Florida’s congressional delegation — has backed Trump, 77, to reclaim the office he lost to Biden in 2020.

The DeSantis campaign was quick to respond to Scott’s endorsement, arguing the governor will win the Florida primary and that their man has a broader base of support in key early states.

“Ron DeSantis has more endorsements from state legislators than the former president in Iowa (41), New Hampshire (62), and South Carolina (16),” spokesman Andrew Romeo said in a statement. “He also has the support of almost all Florida elected officials because he worked with them to deliver historic results for the conservative movement. The governor will win his home state because Floridians want to see a fighter who will bring the same type of results-oriented leadership to Washington that he has provided in the Sunshine State.”

The 45th president has been polling well ahead of the other GOP candidates, with the RealClearPolitics national polling average showing him with 59.3% support compared to the Florida governor’s 13.4%. No other candidate has cracked double-digits.

In Florida, 538’s polling average shows Trump averaging 57.3% of the vote, with DeSantis at 21.9%.

Scott was narrowly elected to two terms as Florida’s governor in 2010 and 2014 before narrowly unseating Democratic incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson in 2018. By contrast, DeSantis won re-election as governor last year by nearly 20 percentage points over Democrat Charlie Crist.

Meanwhile, Scott was widely blamed for Republicans failing to regain control of the Senate in the midterm elections — during which time he chaired the National Republican Senatorial Committee — before launching a failed challenge to Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to lead the GOP conference.

While Scott demanded party unity in his op-ed, he stopped short of calling on DeSantis or the other contenders for the Republican nomination to leave the race.

“I’d never demand or even ask that another candidate drop out of a political contest,” the senator wrote. “That’s a decision for every candidate to make for themselves. But I’m supporting Donald Trump for president because the stakes are too high.”