Making America Florida & The Race For Senate Majority Leader – Top 3 Takeaways – November 12th, 2024
- Making America Florida. If you love the Free State of Florida, you’d no doubt love to Make America Florida. And while both of those slogans are credited to the Floridian who runs our state as opposed to the next president of the United States... The fact remains that the best way to Make America Florida, is to have Floridians running America. With President-Elect Trump set to be sworn in as President of the United States in 69 days we’re a third of way there. Also, with a Chief of Staff in Suzie Wiles, a Floridian, a Secretary of State in Florida Senator Marco Rubio and a National Security Advisor in Florida Congressman Mike Waltz, many of the best and brightest our state has to offer are also set to become key parts of the incoming Trump administration. But while most of the political battles for this election cycle have already taken place, there’s a key battle that’s just starting to take shape. The race for the next Senate majority leader. Have Chuck Schumer’s priorities as senate majority leader lined up with your priorities? Probably not. But then again, even if you’re a Republican, have Mitch McConnell’s priorities been your priorities? With a current favorability rating of only 22%, I’ll run out a limb and guess that they’ve probably not. On a personal note, I’ll always appreciate what McConnell did on judges, he was rock solid when it came to the judiciary, but legislatively? He’s left conservatives wanting for nearly 18 years. Mitch McConnell has been the Republican leader since January of 2007. I’ll give you a little time to think about and name some of his legislative achievements as leader... You probably can’t think of any and that’s the point. But January will bring a new congress and thankfully a new Senate Majority leader.
- A position that’s more powerful than many may realize. The Senate leader decides what comes up for a vote and what doesn’t. The leader’s priorities are therefore the senate’s priorities. And wouldn’t it be nice if the senate’s priorities included your priorities for a change? Enter into the conversation Florida’s former governor, junior Senator, and regular Mitch McConnell critic Rick Scott who first challenged Mitch McConnell for the leadership post two years ago and who’s been Mitch’s nemesis ever since... Rick Scott’s been crystal clear that he wants to be the one to steer the senate going forward. But he’s been met with strong competition in the form of Texas Senator John Cornyn, whom Donald Trump once called a RINO, and South Dakota Senator John Thune. That’s South Dakota Senator John Thune who posted on November 8th of 2016, after the Access Hollywood tape dropped...” Donald Trump should withdraw, and Mike Pence should be our nominee effective immediately”. A post he deleted the same day. Rick Scott has his critics in GOP circles too, mainly by the gun lobby, for his decision as governor to sign the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Safety Act into law which raised the age to purchase a gun to 21 and that also instituted risk protection orders. Nevertheless, the battle for senate leader is one between a classic establishment candidate in Thune, a semi-establishment candidate Cornyn, and an anti-GOP establishment candidate in Scott. One of these potential leaders seemingly lines up better with President Trump than the others. And Florida’s senator is seemingly building a broader coalition around him too. Senators Mike Lee, Ron Johnson, Rand Paul and Florida’s senior Senator Marco Rubio (whom I’ve had pegged as potentially the next Secretary of State) are among those publicly endorsing Rick Scott for leader. Tucker Carlson and RFK Jr. are among notable non-politicians to also publicly have Rick’s back. But the most notable endorsement of them all, has come from perhaps the most influential person of them all, at least this side of Donald Trump who’s yet to weigh in... Elon Musk. As Musk posted to X: Rick Scott for Senate Majority Leader! And Elon also conducted a Twitter poll to see who it is that you want to lead the senate. With over a million people responding...66% said Rick. The biggest reason more of Donald Trump’s agenda wasn’t accomplished in his first term as president, was due to Republican leadership, in House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, not ushering it through congress. Current House Speaker Mike Johnson has made clear that he’s on board for what Trump wants to do, the next true test...
- Is if we’ll have a Senate Majority leader who’s willing to do in the Senate what it will take to get Trump’s agenda through. From the confirmation process for President Trump’s cabinet picks, to his legislative agenda, much of how the next two years in Washington will go will be decided by how the vote for senate majority leader goes. And as for that vote... It’s scheduled for Wednesday. Only members of the Republican conference that are on hand have a vote in the matter. In order for a leader to be selected they must win a simple majority of the vote. If after a round of votes a person doesn’t have the majority of the vote, the candidate with the fewest votes is dropped and the vote takes place again until a majority is achieved. While the AP has declared Republican Dave McCormick the winner of the Pennsylvania Senate race, incumbent Pennsylvania Democrat Bob Casey has yet to concede the race. As a result, the current Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer hasn’t invited McCormick to the Senate to participate in freshman orientation services, which also means he may not be on hand to cast a vote. As of now that means there are 52 senators/senators-elect that will have votes. As president of the senate, vice president-elect JD Vance may also cast a vote if he chooses to. The election we’ve participated in is over. But a critical election that determines the pace of Making America Great Again is about to take place. The best outcome would be a senator who knows what it takes to Make America Florida.