Personnel note: Clare Lattanze takes over as Rick Scott’s Communications Director

Clare Lattanze has been promoted to Communications Director for U.S. Sen. Rick Scott.

According to Legistorm, Scott’s longtime staffer previously worked as Deputy Communications Director, Press Secretary, and Deputy Press Secretary in his Senate office.

The Florida State graduate also helped coordinate Scott’s 2018 Senate campaign, during which he unseated Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson. Shortly afterward, Lattanze joined Scott’s professional staff in the Senate and has remained a part of the communications team.

She replaces former Communications Director McKinley Lewis, who will still work closely with Scott. Lewis now serves as Staff Director for the Senate Special Committee on Aging, which Scott chairs. Scott hired Lewis to the committee job, a move announced in November.

Lewis took over that role at the start of the new Congress. He had been Scott’s Communications Director since 2021.

Lewis previously worked for Florida’s Department of Management Services in 2019. Before that, he worked in the Governor’s Office as Deputy Communications Director when Scott was Governor. McKinley also worked for other parts of Scott’s administration, as Press Secretary and Communications Director for the Department of Corrections and as a Public Information Specialist and Communications Specialist for Florida’s Department of Health.

Scott recently won re-election to a second term, defending the seat as Republicans regained a majority in the Senate. The Naples Republican took 55% of the vote to Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell’s less than 43%. That marked the most decisive victory for Scott in four statewide elections over 14 years.