Former Florida Governor and current Senator Rick Scott has endorsed Donald Trump for president in 2024. Scott was elected to the Senate in 2018, and served as governor from 2011 to 2019, when he began his senate term.
“I’m proud to endorse @realDonaldTrump,” he wrote. “It’s time for the Republican Party to come together, behind one candidate, and declare with one voice that we are united in our efforts to defeat Joe Biden and rescue America.”
Scott spoke about the endorsement on NBC, saying “I have known Trump a long time before… I endorsed him in 2016, and I worked with him well when I was governor [of Florida] and in the Senate. When you look at what is going on in the world today, this would not be happening if he was the president.”
“I think we all should come together and do everything we can to help him win the nomination so we can beat Biden,” he said.
Florida's Republican governor Ron DeSantis is also running for president.
The Messenger, which ran the exclusive, said that Scott and DeSantis have been at odds since DeSantis challenged Scott for in Florida's 2018 gubernatorial race. He's been friends with Trump since well before either of them had expressed political ambitions.
Scott did not endorse Trump prior to the Florida primary in 2016, but did so the following day. Trump had been running against Florida Senator Marco Rubio.
At the recent RJC convention, Scott hinted that an endorsement for Trump may be in the offing.
“Just think what we had with the last president: the most pro-Israel president in the history of the country,” he said. “Some people have different opinions about Donald Trump. But he more he did more for Israel than any president in the country. We defeated ISIS. We moved the embassy to Jerusalem, its rightful home. And he held vicious Iranian murders like [Qasem] Soleimani accountable for American lives and Israeli lives. Our southern border was secured. And we had peace through the Abraham Accords.”
