Florida Gov. Rick Scott is keeping his distance from President Donald Trump in his bid to win the Senate, Politico is reporting.
Scott, a Republican, is looking to unseat Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla.
Scott had chaired the Super PAC backing Trump’s 2016 presidential bid, Politico noted. And it reported Scott was frequently with Trump at the White House and at the president’s resorts in South Florida and New Jersey in 2017.
But now Scott seldom speaks about Trump and will not commit to having an event with him.
“I want everybody that believes in what I'm going to do to come help me win,” Scott told the Tampa Bay Times when asked about Trump.
Nelson has also commented on Scott’s distancing himself from president.
“My opponent is acting as if Trump has the plague,” Nelson said, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
Scott recently skipped a Trump rally for Republican Ron DeSantis’ campaign for governor.
However, he is not entirely snubbing the president. The two flew on Air Force One together in July when he accompanied the president on a tour of Tampa Technical High School.
Politico noted Trump won Florida by 1.2 percent percentage points. And a recent Quinnipiac poll showed Scott and Nelson tied with 49 percent each.
One Republican familiar with the political operations of Trump and Scott said it’s a “keep-away-from-Trump strategy. But Scott doesn’t want to be in-your-face about it.”
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