Endorsement? Rick Scott says Ron DeSantis will ‘continue to lead the party’ into 2022

Image via AP.

U.S. Sen. Rick Scott on Monday predicted the reelection of Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2022, saying the Governor will “continue to lead the party.”

The Senator from Florida, appearing on the “National Report” program on the Newsmax cable network, was asked “who would be the right person to lead the state of Florida when it comes to the Governor’s race in 2022. Is it DeSantis? Does he maintain his position?”

Scott answered the question as if it was clear.

“Oh, I think — I mean, look. The state’s open for business. Our schools are open. Um, you know, we’re going to continue to work hard in our state, so I think that he’ll continue to lead the party and be the next Governor,” Scott said of DeSantis.

The response to the question signaled a public rapprochement between the past and the present governors, both of whom were linked to 2024 presidential bids in speculation after Donald Trump‘s loss last year.

While the two had lobbed volleys at each other during 2020’s unemployment crisis, with DeSantis blaming Scott for the “jalopy” of an unemployment website, perhaps these favorable comments mean the worst is over in terms of conflict between the two conservative giants.

Scott appears to be out of the 2024 presidential mix. He has said he is focused on taking back the Senate in his duties as head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the organization tasked with the reelection campaigns of Republican senators. Scott, in his first term, has taken criticism for using the NRSC as the “National Rick Scott Committee.”

DeSantis, meanwhile, continues to be feted as an emergent national leader of the conservative movement. And he increasingly has a national presence and reputation, with polling and fundraising to match.

Even as the Legislature begins on Monday to hash out the particulars of the Seminole Compact, a proposed pact with the Tribe that could reshape Florida’s gaming industry for decades to come, the Governor is preparing for a $5,000 minimum contribution lunch for his “Friends of Ron DeSantis” political committee in Texas.