Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., dashed talk about a bid for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination Thursday when he announced he will be running for reelection to a second term.
Scott, whose popularity in the GOP, especially among conservatives, took off after he unsuccessfully challenged to unseat Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., as the Senate minority leader, made the announcement on his Twitter account.
"Today I'm excited to announce key staff members of my reelection campaign efforts for 2024," Scott tweeted. "I ran to fight for Floridians and that is exactly what I am going to keep doing. I've never lost a race and I don't intend to now."
NBC News reported Scott made it clear that he was not going to run for the Republican presidential nomination, which is expected to have a crowded primary field. So far, only former President Donald Trump has declared his intention to seek the nomination in 2024.
Scott was a two-term Florida governor who defeated incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson in a closely contested U.S. Senate race by 10,033 votes in 2018. But Republicans in Florida were buoyed by the 2022 midterm election results, when Gov. Ron DeSantis, also considered a 2024 presidential contender, won his race by 19.4 points and Sen. Marco Rubio won reelection by 16.4 points.
Scott told NBC News he is prepared to pursue his Rescue America plan, which is teeming with conservative principles, including patriotism, simplifying the tax code, a balanced federal budget, and building a border wall (and naming it after Trump).
But it drew widespread condemnation from both parties last year, especially McConnell, who was against the plan saying that "All Americans should pay some income tax to have skin in the game, even if a small amount. Currently over half of Americans pay no income tax."
"I'm going to continue to push it," Scott said. "I tell people these are my ideas. Let's start fighting over ideas.
"If Democrats have a better way of getting people back to work, it doesn't seem to be working. Labor participation rates are down. We're not creating full-time jobs. Look at the job market.
"All we're doing for last few months is adding part-time jobs. That's not a great economy. Inflation: 40-year high. If we did what I put in my plan, then it would be better for Americans, all Americans."
White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates told NBC News that Scott is no better than House Republicans who want to reduce taxes for the wealthy and cut social services.
"Rick Scott is doing the very same thing," Bates said. "Tripling down on his ultra-MAGA agenda to raise taxes on middle-class families and schedule Medicare and Social Security to expire is fundamentally at odds with the wishes of the American people, and President [Joe] Biden is firmly against it."
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.