(Bloomberg) -- Donald Trump’s hold over the incoming Republican US Senate faces an early test Wednesday as a longtime ally of the president-elect seeks to win a leadership fight against two bastions of the party establishment.
Senator Rick Scott of Florida, a steadfast Trump backer who sat in court to show support during the president-elect’s criminal trial earlier this year, is seeking an upset victory in the race to replace outgoing Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell.
Rivals John Thune of South Dakota and John Cornyn of Texas, both longtime McConnell deputies, are favored over him in the contest.
The Senate leadership elections are usually among the ultimate Washington insider affairs, settled by a secret ballot of senators.
Yet Scott’s bid has attracted high-profile public campaigning on his behalf by Elon Musk and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Musk rallied support for the Florida senator on his X social media platform. Trump hasn’t made an endorsement.
Scott, who just won election to a second term, has complained for years that McConnell hasn’t been bold enough in pushing for conservative causes.
The former health-care company chief executive and two-term governor has secured endorsements from some senators on the Republican right flank and the conservative Club for Growth. Scott has often voted against measures to fund the government and has opposed increases to the federal debt limit — something Congress will have to navigate again next year. He called on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to resign over his management of inflation.
Scott won just 10 votes against McConnell two years ago despite having Trump’s backing in that election. Thune and Cornyn have spent many years courting their colleagues and powerful interests, and both have a deep understanding of how the chamber operates.
Most senators, who will have to turn to future party leaders for plum committee assignments and colleagues for support of pet causes, have refrained from making public endorsements.
Thune and Cornyn have been been trying to appeal to Trump and his supporters, hoping to work together on items like extending the 2017 tax overhaul and securing the border.
Yet Thune has faced some blowback for strong criticism he leveled against Trump after the Jan. 6th, 2021, assault on the Capitol, while Cornyn has faced criticism from some gun rights advocates for crafting a compromise gun safety law with Democrats.
Thune, a former state railroad official and lobbyist, previously chaired the Commerce Committee and has long supported the ethanol industry. Cornyn, a former Texas attorney general and state Supreme Court justice, has ties to his state’s oil and gas industry.
Scott, one of the wealthiest members of Congress, has mostly served outside the Republican power structure, save for a stint as chair of the party’s campaign committee for the 2022 election.
He had a rocky relationship with McConnell during his tenure in the campaign post and several of the party’s Trump-backed Senate nominees flopped in that election.
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.