Scott keeps Trump at arm’s length, but can he keep it up?
In January 2016, as Floridians Jeb Bush and U.S. Sen Marco Rubio sparred for the GOP presidential nomination, Gov. Rick Scott sang the praises of another candidate – Donald Trump.
“Donald Trump has America’s pulse,” read the headline in Scott’s USA Today op-ed. “I don’t think his ability to give the most interesting interviews or speeches is the only thing that has him leading in the polls. … I think he is capturing the frustration of many Americans.”
This past Thursday, a year and a half into the Trump administration and months into his run for U.S. Senate, Scott laid out his ideals and plans before crowds of supportive Republicans at an Orlando GOP unity rally and a luncheon with Vice President Mike Pence. Not mentioned in his speech? Donald Trump.
Despite being one of Trump’s earliest supporters – and originally winning office in 2010 on a Tea Party wave – Scott has so far been campaigning from the middle against moderate Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson.
“My opponent is acting as if Trump has the plague,” Nelson said in Orlando on Monday. “But you can’t turn away from being a creature of Trump, which is exactly what he is. … You name it, what Trump has done he’s embraced it. And all of a sudden he sees Trump may not be so popular and so all of a sudden he has changed his complexion 180 degrees.”
Governor’s primary victories by Republican Ron DeSantis, a longtime Trump supporter who rocketed to a win thanks to his endorsement by “the big guy” in the White House, and the Bernie Sanders-endorsed Democrat Andrew Gillum could mean the general election will be seen as a referendum on Trump.
That could create an awkward situation for Scott.
“Even though they had that [GOP] unity rally right here in Orlando, I don’t think we’ll be seeing a lot more of those,” said Aubrey Jewett, a professor of political science at the University of Central Florida.
Scott did not attend a Trump rally for DeSantis in Tampa last month and so far has avoided questions about Trump’s tariffs and whether he wants the president to campaign with him. White House officials did not include Florida on the list of states where they expect the president to campaign before the November election.
It was Pence who repeatedly stressed what Scott’s campaign has so far avoided: that Scott’s election to the Senate could make all the difference in which party controls the chamber, and with it, whether Trump policies will be enacted, judicial nominees are confirmed and how much oversight the administration will get.
Pence “couldn’t be more excited about what will be possible when Rick Scott becomes part of an even larger Republican majority,” he told the crowd at the Marriott Orlando Downtown on Thursday.
Jewett said Scott’s early support inoculated him somewhat among Trump supporters otherwise ready to vote out Republican Trump critics in primaries. Scott also had no real challenger in his own primary.
And while Trump is unpopular in the Hispanic community for his policies on immigration and his response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, Scott’s own response to the hurricane and Puerto Rican evacuees to Florida has helped him with Hispanic voters.
In a recent Quinnipiac University poll, Scott led Nelson among Hispanic voters 59 percent to 39 percent – a dangerous position for Nelson to be in, despite the overall race being tied at 49 percent.
Jorge Bonilla, a former Republican consultant and Rubio staffer, said he had “no doubt Nelson’s going to try to tie [Scott] to Trump. Not just Nelson, but every single organization parachuting into Central Florida.”
But, Bonilla said, “It will fail because Gov. Scott has a track record. Well before the hurricane, he was engaging, speaking to people … People don’t forget that.”
Jimmy Torres Velez, head of the voter engagement group Boricua Vota, said Scott “took advantage of being out there on TV for months.”
“I believe that thousands of people died in Puerto Rico [after Maria], and the major responsibility was President Trump’s inability to manage FEMA,” Torres Velez said, speaking for himself and not his organization.
“And we get the usual silence from Rick Scott [about that]. It’s not going to work this time.” Broward and Palm Beach counties are seeking environmentally-minded beach-goers for the Ocean Conservancy’s 33rd annual International Coastal Cleanup on Sept. 15.