Over the past year, Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) has become the biggest thorn in Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s side.
Francis Chung/POLITICO

Others see things differently.

“The leader’s role is to support incumbent senators. He certainly did it up in Alaska,” said Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), who supported Scott in the leadership fight. “Certainly don’t denigrate them, don’t say anything negative about them. Financial support is one thing, but just verbal support is his responsibility. So, beyond disappointing.”

Scott’s seat is a key cog in the Senate GOP’s plans to win back the majority, and McConnell’s political network is behind him there. Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Scott’s successor at the National Republican Senatorial Committee, is behind Scott. So is the chief McConnell-aligned super PAC — even after it publicly sparred with Scott just a few months ago over campaign strategy.

“Senator Scott has never lost an election in the state of Florida, and 2024 will be no different,” said Torunn Sinclair, a spokesperson for the Senate Leadership Fund.

The imbroglio goes back to McConnell’s decision not to release an agenda ahead of November’s midterms, and Scott’s subsequent move to put out his own while running the NRSC. McConnell smarted over the plan, as well as Biden’s concerted attacks linking it to the rest of the party, though on Tuesday he declined to utter Scott’s name.

“This continues to come up. The president was talking about it in the State of the Union. He’s taken it out to various states. So let me say one more time. There is no agenda on the part of Senate Republicans to revisit Medicare or Social Security. Period,” McConnell said.

In addition to policy disputes, the clash stems in part from the two Republicans’ divergent views of modern politics. Scott views the attention he gets from Democrats as valuable increased name recognition, and he’s raised money off of the loss of his committee assignment. He said in an interview that it’s “great” to see Biden distribute his proposal: “I put out a plan, Biden puts it out. What else could you ask for?”

But McConnell sees things very differently, according to allies. He’s studiously avoided releasing any agenda that can be easily pilloried, instead trying to run as a check on Democrats — a strategy that’s had mixed results in his 16 years as Senate GOP leader.

With the party gearing up for another bid to take back the White House and Senate, that means some Republicans are cringing every time Biden brings up Scott.

“It’s a problem when you have the president of the United States in his State of the Union saying that Republicans want to get rid of Social Security,” said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.). Because of Scott, she added, Biden “has a kernel to hold onto. And I think that frustrates McConnell.”