Jacob Ogles
U.S. Sen. Rick Scott added more than $914,000 to his war chest last quarter as he prepares for re-election.
The fundraising comes as the Naples Republican seeks a second term in Washington and starts his fourth statewide campaign. Scott defeated Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson in 2018 after two terms as Florida’s Governor.
In his first quarter report, Scott netted more than $527,000 in new contributions, of which almost $334,000 came from individuals. PACs gave another $98,000. There’s also more than $375,000 from other authorized committees.
The reports include almost $100,000 in candidate contributions, all of that in-kind facility rentals and airfare provided by Scott for the campaign. The wealthiest member of Florida’s congressional delegation, Scott has a history of self-funding his campaigns.
For the entire cycle, that means Scott has posted just under $4.5 million in total contributions. That includes about $3.8 million in donations from individuals, nearly $341,000 from outside PACs and just over $351,000 in candidate contributions.
Authorized committee transfers delivered him close to $2.4 million in receipts.
But the biggest chunk of change came out of pocket. Scott has put down a $4 million candidate loan.
Overall, Scott reported just over $12.3 million in total receipts for his campaign.
But he has also spent close to $9.5 million over the course of the campaign as he gears up to run statewide. That includes about $2.2 million in disbursements in the first quarter of 2023.
That means he closed the quarter with just under $2.8 million on hand.
Notably, Scott just wrapped up two years as Chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the political arm for Senate Republicans. But it wasn’t a highly successful term, with the caucus netting a one-seat loss in the chamber.
Many pilloried Scott for releasing a Midterm “Rescue America” agenda that many saw as a threat to Social Security and Medicare, thanks to a call to sunset and review all federal programs after five years.
Scott followed the election cycle with an unsuccessful challenge to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
He has proudly told people he’s working on being the “least popular man in Washington.” But he hopes his anti-establishment reputation fuels success with Florida voters. It has in the past, though his formula for success has resulted in three nail-biter victories.
He upset then-Attorney General Bill McCollum for the Republican nomination for Governor in 2010, then narrowly defeated Democratic Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink in the General that year. Four years later, he narrowly fended off a challenge from Democrat Charlie Crist.
But his closest victory was also his most recent. Scott defeated Nelson by 10,033 votes five years ago.
So far, the only potential Scott opponent to raise money this cycle is Democrat Rod Joseph, who raised less than $5,900 in the first quarter and spent all but a dollar. Seven other candidates have filed, but either raised no money or entered the race after March and won’t report fundraising until the next quarter.
Correction: A previous version of this article reported financial reporting for the entire cycle instead of the fundraising for the quarter.
2 comments
Serpent Handler Adelbert 👍
April 19, 2023 at 6:20 pm
Who in God’s name would donate to this man. Only the most corrupt hog and low wage slave plantation owner would even think about it. He’s a right wing propagandist and shill for the super rich. They pay him to keep the tax man and labor away from them.
A Random Guest
April 24, 2023 at 5:18 pm
Why so many people continue to elect the country’s biggest Medicare thief boggles the mind. So many people have gone to prison and lost their voting rights for far less.
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