Rick Scott is in charge of winning back the Senate for Republicans. Can he balance that and Trump?

The Florida Senator and chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee speaks with The Independent’s Eric Garcia about how he plans to win the Senate, why Hispanics will vote for Republicans and what role Trump will play in 2022

Sen Rick Scott, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (Getty Images)

A wealthy Florida-based businessman with no electoral experience jumps into an open race and bulldozes his way to victory and then aggressively courts Latinos to improve Republican margins with them. That description may describe former president Donald Trump, but it’s also apt for the man in charge of Republicans winning back the Senate in 2022.

Since he jumped into politics in 2010, Sen Rick Scott has never lost a race, despite constantly running in nail-biter campaigns in the Sunshine State. That combination of a massive war chest – as a businessman, he’s poured his own money into his campaigns, and the Center for Responsive Politics reported in 2020 that he’s worth $260m –combined with his understanding of the Florida electorate (he speaks Spanish and his campaigns aggressively courts Latinos) is why his colleagues selected him to be chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

And he’s in a good spot to do so. President Joe Biden’s approval ratings continue to nosedive. Last month, a poll from Quinnipiac University showed that 46 per cent of Americans prefer Republicans to control the Senate, compared to 40 per cent of voters who want Democrats to control the majority. With a 50-50 Senate today, Republicans only need to flip one seat. But Mr Scott is planning to win much more than that.