Senator Rick Scott has thrown his hat in the ring to replace McConnell as Majority Leader. He’s generally seen as more Trump-aligned than the other two declared candidates (John Cornyn and John Thune). He also got crushed when he tried to challenge Mitch for Majority Leader two years ago.
https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2024/05/22/congress/a-new-senate-gop-leader-bid-00159540
Hmm. He’s also up for reelection in Florida this year. Is this more about bolstering his prospects there than any realistic hope of getting the SML gig?
Did I miss something important?
Whoops, maybe I was subconsciously projecting forward to next year.
Doesn’t the governor have to sign that bill or did they override his veto?
Beshear has almost all of his vetoes overridden (and he did veto the Senate vacancy legislation). Kentucky only requires a majority vote in both chambers of the state legislature to override a veto, and Republicans have a supermajority in both chambers.
Anyone?
Running for Majority/Minority Leader is unlikely to be helpful to his Senate race. You get to be Leader by showing your colleagues that you’ll put their interests ahead of your own – hosting fundraisers for them, echoing their messaging, taking a backseat to let them grab the limelight. It will at best be a distraction from his own campaign, but he’s already heavily favored to win reelection.
Scott got 10 votes when he tried to overthrow McConnell and he has baggage: he oversaw a company that was fined a then record $1.7 billion for Medicare fraud. Also, I would guess that rank and file were fairly content with Team McConnell and I doubt whether Scott’s promises of reform will attract many takers. But in case they do, here’s a list:
There are 3 other promises, but I couldn’t find the original letter.
Was it this?
The House leader?
D’oh!
Yes, that looks like the letter. Here are the 8 promises:
Ok, that letter is the public face of an insider game. The promises will matter less than whether the Senate caucus is comfortable with Thune and Cornyn. My guess is that they are. As for the 2022 vote when Scott tried to topple McConnell:
The vote was held by secret ballot; senators who publicly confirmed voting for Scott included Mike Braun, Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, Ron Johnson, and Lindsey Graham.
I think the question is whether Scott will be able to rise to a leadership position or whether he’s interesting in being a whip I suppose.
Also, I think term limits are a great idea for the Republican leadership, because high turnover enables incompetence in pursuing their agenda.
2 and especially 8 amount to “I’ll never call on you to compromise ever for any reason,” and no sane politician of either party could actually believe it.
As to 6, as this isn’t the Pit, I’ll say: “positive, aspirational agenda”? “what Senate Republicans stand for”? 
Who the hell is Mitch McConnell warning us against? Surely he wrote this with Trump in mind?
I don’t think that its primary goal is to allude Trump’s fascist tendencies. I think that its arguing in favor of support for Ukraine and NATO.
ETA: Procrustus’ reply was posted while I was rewording my post
Hard to be the first without being the second.
There’s a lot of Trump to be against, not just his stance on Ukraine. If you’re a racist who’s also anti-communist, you can be pro Ukraine and pro-Trump
Bumping to add that McConnell announced on 2/20 that he will not run for re-election in 2026
Ayup:
Cornyn. For decades that blindingly white spook positioned himself directly behind whatever Rupube was addressing the press.