Promises made. Promises kept. Rick Scott takes a literal backseat in Washington for Florida
Gov. Rick Scott says he won’t leave office early - Miami Herald
Excerpt: Gov. Rick Scott won’t become Senator Scott until Jan. 8.
Scott announced Tuesday that he will remain in his current role until Gov.-elect Ron DeSantis is sworn in. Scott, who has kept his plans secret for weeks, was scheduled to become a U.S. senator five days before his term as governor would end.
“Governor Scott will remain governor until January 8th, 2019,” said John Tupps, Scott’s communications director. “U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has agreed to hold the ceremony for Governor Scott’s swearing-in as U.S. senator from Florida that afternoon.”
New and re-elected U.S. senators are sworn in Jan. 3, as laid out in the U.S. Constitution. DeSantis will be sworn in Jan. 8.
Scott’s decision means that he’ll come to Washington as the most junior incoming senator. He would have been 97th on the seniority list. Seniority, which plays a major role in things like the seating chart on the Senate floor, office space and committee assignments.
Tupps said Scott’s reason for staying in his role is because he “promised to fight for Florida families every single day of his term.”
That five-day gap could have only been filled by Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera, who has served in the role since 2014. Scott is one of seven new Republican senators elected in November.
Bottom Line: Aside from personally being disappointed for our Lt. Governor – who I sincerely hope we see enter the public arena again (he's truly one of the good ones), it’s admirable what Governor Scott has done here. He literally is taking a back seat, the last seat in the U.S. Senate placing himself behind three other Senators in seniority, when he didn’t have to in order to literally fulfill his promise to Floridians. That’s pretty cool and super-rare in politics.
It’s a reminder that in a cynical era of politics when we’ve become accustomed to politicians telling us what we want to hear on the campaign trail but doing something different once elected...there are still those who’ll say what they mean, mean what they say and follow-through. While their personalities couldn’t be much more different – Rick Scott really was Donald Trump before Donald Trump. Ran on jobs, brought the best improvement in the country to Florida over his time. Said his favorite activity as Governor was recruiting businesses to Florida. Was second to only Texas over his eight years in doing so. Said economic prosperity could be balanced with fiscal responsibility. He exists with Florida’s fiscal ranking 3rd nationally and the best of any large state in the country. You get the idea. Promises Made. Promises Kept. President Trump would probably approve of that message on behalf of Rick Scott. He earned it.