About
Rick Scott (R-Fla.) was sworn in to the U.S. Senate in 2019 as the junior senator from Florida after serving as governor from 2011–19. He currently chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), which raises money to help elect Republicans to the Senate.
Before he became governor, Scott co-founded Columbia Hospital Corporation, which later merged with Hospital Corporation of America to form Columbia/HCA—the world’s largest healthcare company. When the federal government investigated the company for fraud, Scott resigned as part of the settlement agreement. He then founded Richard L. Scott Investments, LLC.
As governor Scott flip-flopped on expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. He opposed it, then agreed to it in 2013, perhaps because of the large cash influx it would have brought the state’s coffers, then reversed course again.
In 2018 then-Gov. Scott claimed fraud and called on Florida law enforcement to investigate Democratic election officials in two counties when his lead in the tight Senate race against incumbent Bill Nelson dwindled. Although he ultimately won the Senate seat, fact checkers determined that all nine of his ads during that campaign were essentially false.
January 6, 2021
- Just hours after the violent attack on the Capitol, Scott joined 146 other congressional Republicans in refusing to certify the election of Biden as president.
- Scott voted against impeaching Trump for his role in inciting the mob that attacked the Capitol. While he acknowledged that “the videos of the event” were “horrible,” he maintained that the second impeachment trial was a “charade” and that Democrats were merely obsessed with finding fault with Trump. “It’s just disgusting that people would come into the Capitol,” he told a reporter for Florida Politics, but only felt “disappointed” that Trump “didn’t say something quicker to make sure that people left the Capitol.”
- Scott, like all but a handful of Republican senators, voted against establishing a special commission to investigate the violent attack on the Capitol.
The Big Lie
- In April 2021, Scott was widely criticized for awarding Trump the NRSC’s Champion of Freedom award as part of a GOP donors retreat at Mar-a-Lago mere months after the Jan. 6 insurrection.
- In January 2022, Scott claimed that the proposed federal voting rights bills Democrats have attempted to pass would enable the party to cheat in future elections. “If you look at the Democrat Party now,” he said on Fox News, “they are the ones that are anti-democracy….”
- Ever loyal to Trump, Scott threatened Attorney General Merrick Garland with potential impeachment after the FBI raid of Mar-a-Lago in August 2022. “If Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray do not make public statements today explaining to the American people exactly what they did at Mar-a-Lago and why,” he wrote, “they will have lost what little public trust they may have had and no longer deserve to remain in office.” The senator also calls the FBI search “authoritarian” and has repeatedly demanded more information about the “unprecedented action.”
Top contributors for the 2024 election cycle.
The organizations themselves did not donate, rather the money came from the organization's PAC, its individual members or employees or owners, and those individuals' immediate families.
| Organization Name | Total | PACs | Individuals |
|---|---|---|---|
| American Israel Public Affairs Cmte | $139,510.00 | $10,000.00 | $129,510.00 |
| Senate Conservatives Fund | $138,118.00 | $10,000.00 | $128,118.00 |
| The Villages | $137,365.00 | $0.00 | $137,365.00 |
| Club for Growth | $84,045.00 | $3,000.00 | $81,045.00 |
| GEO Group | $64,900.00 | $0.00 | $64,900.00 |
| T&D Concrete | $59,400.00 | $0.00 | $59,400.00 |
| Shutts & Bowen | $56,291.00 | $0.00 | $56,291.00 |
| National Republican Senatorial Cmte | $52,800.00 | $52,800.00 | $0.00 |
| Republican Jewish Coalition | $48,425.00 | $10,000.00 | $38,425.00 |
| L3Harris Technologies | $45,511.00 | $10,000.00 | $35,511.00 |