New Rick Scott ad promotes same plan that hindered Senate GOP in 2022

Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott announced last month that he would seek a second term rather than run for president in 2024. But rather than focus on winning reelection in Florida, on Wednesday he announced a seven-figure national cable television ad buy calling on the GOP “to be bold, speak the truth, and stop caving in.”

The new 30-second “Got to Change” spot features Scott defending his failed bid to be Senate minority leader.

“People told me not to run for Republican leader against Mitch McConnell. They said I wouldn’t win. I knew it was going to be hard. But we’ve got to start somewhere,” he says in the ad. “Look, we’re on the road to woke socialism, and Republicans are just a speed bump. We can’t keep doing the same old thing.”

Then, in front of a picture of his “Rescue America” agenda for his party from the 2022 campaign, he directs his audience to the website for that package.

For the 2022 midterm election cycle, Scott served as chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the official campaign arm for the Senate Republican caucus, which works to elect and reelect GOP Senate candidates across the country. Tasked with winning at least one seat to regain a GOP majority, Scott promised a “red wave coming” and predicted a gain of at least three seats.

In February 2022, he released an 11-point “Rescue America” plan for the Republican Party, arguing, “Americans deserve to know what we will do” once his party regains power.

It contained an array of unpopular ideas, including automatically making every federal law expire every five years (including Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and the Civil Rights Act), terminating all federal climate change response, getting rid of 2 million government jobs, and raising taxes for more than 100 million families.

While some Republicans tried to distance themselves from Scott’s plan, many embraced it.

Democrats ran ads across the country warning that electing GOP candidates would mean an end to popular safety net programs and a tax hike for lower-income families and retirees.

Contrary to Scott’s predictions, his party failed to defeat a single Democratic incumbent and lost an open seat in Pennsylvania, where newly elected Democratic Sen. John Fetterman defeated former television personality Mehmet Oz.

Some Republicans have blamed Scott and his plan for their party’s lackluster midterm results.

Then-Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) said on Nov. 9 that Democratic attacks “may have had an impact” in halting the GOP’s momentum.

Scott denied blame for his failure, telling Fox News that the GOP lost “because we didn’t have a plan.”

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.