Trump world adds pressure to Senate leadership election by favoring Scott

President-elect Donald Trump’s top allies are working to thwart either Sen. John Thune or Sen. John Cornyn from becoming Senate majority leader and are pushing for Rick Scott of Florida to win the post.

It’s the Trump team’s first significant move to secure loyal congressional leaders’ support for aggressively pursuing the president’s agenda to cut taxes, secure the border, jump-start energy production, cut government regulations and more.

Mr. Trump’s closest advisers, including Elon Musk, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Vivek Ramaswamy, endorsed Mr. Scott, a staunch Trump supporter who won a second Senate term last week.

Still, Mr. Scott is the underdog heading into the Senate Republicans’ closed-door, secret-ballot election on Wednesday.

Trump insiders say the former health care company CEO and former Florida governor is better aligned with Mr. Trump’s agenda than Mr. Thune of South Dakota, now serving as Republican whip, or Mr. Cornyn of Texas. Both support Mr. Trump this year but have been critical of him in the past.

“Without Rick Scott, the entire Trump reform agenda wobbly,” Mr. Kennedy posted on X.

The pressure from the Trump world complicates the push for a quick and harmonious transition from Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who announced in February that he would not run again after holding the post for two decades.

Mr. McConnell, who repeatedly clashed with Mr. Trump but ultimately supported his presidential campaign, scheduled the election for Wednesday, a day after senators returned to Washington from a weekslong recess. The schedule leaves little time for an underdog candidate like Mr. Scott to win over colleagues who might give him more consideration now that a second Trump term is assured.

Mr. Thune, Mr. Cornyn and Mr. Scott have been lobbying for support for months. Only a handful of lawmakers have made their choices public.

“I think most people are still making up their minds,” Sen. Eric Schmitt, Missouri Republican, said Monday on “The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show.”

Five senators publicly endorsed Mr. Scott. Three are backing Mr. Thune, and at least one publicly supports Mr. Cornyn.

“I will be supporting Rick Scott for Senate Majority Leader,” Sen. Rand Paul, Kentucky Republican and fiscal hawk, posted on X. “The status quo of $2 trillion annual deficits is unsustainable.”

Most Senate Republicans are staying quiet as the MAGA world bears down on their traditionally insular election with intense pressure to push out “the old regime” of Republicans they fear will block Mr. Trump’s agenda.

Mr. Trump’s staunchest allies took to social media to threaten political retribution or primary challenges for Republican senators who do not back Mr. Scott, who has had a close relationship with Mr. Trump for decades.

Scott supporters are replaying old clips of Mr. Thune and Mr. Cornyn criticizing Mr. Trump or providing evidence that neither would work as loyally or aggressively to implement his agenda.

They reposted Mr. Thune’s 2016 statement calling on Mr. Trump to drop out of the presidential race weeks before the election. Mr. Thune and some other Republican lawmakers wanted him to step aside after an 11-year-old video showed Mr. Trump making sexually demeaning comments about women.

Mr. Thune has since repaired his relationship with Mr. Trump. The two met at Mar-a-Lago in March, and they speak regularly, including on the night Mr. Trump won reelection.

“All of their discussions have been positive, constructive, and forward-looking,” a source familiar with their relationship said.

Mr. Trump has not endorsed a candidate in the race, but his new top adviser, Mr. Musk, has weighed in.

On his social media platform, X, Mr. Musk reposted the electoral map, which is primarily red, and a statement from another Trump ally saying voters want the Senate to elect Mr. Scott, who they believe will work the hardest to pass the next president’s agenda.

“The new Senate Majority Leader must respond to the will of the people,” Mr. Musk said.

Those threats and demands may fall flat.

Senate leadership elections are not typically influenced by social media but are based on loyalties and alliances that develop over months and years. They usually hinge on how much a leadership candidate has worked to help lawmakers get elected or pass their bills.

Mr. Scott ranks lower in those categories than Mr. Thune and Mr. Cornyn, who have served in the top Republican leadership positions for many years.

Mr. Scott ran the Senate Republican campaign arm from 2021 until 2023. In 2022, he challenged Mr. McConnell for Republican leader and won 10 votes.

Mr. Cornyn served as Republican whip from 2013 until 2019. Before that, he headed the Senate Republican campaign arm for two cycles.

Mr. Thune has been a member of elected Republican leadership since 2009. He worked his way up to whip, the No. 2 post, in 2019.

Despite sudden momentum for Mr. Scott, “Thune still feels good with where he is,” a source with knowledge of the whip count told The Washington Times.

In a statement after Mr. Trump’s victory, Mr. Cornyn praised the incoming president and promoted their working relationship.

“Over the years, President Trump and I have worked closely together, especially while I served as Senate Majority Whip, on some of his biggest achievements like landmark tax reform and the confirmations of Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh,” Mr. Cornyn said. “I am looking forward to continuing to serve our nation, working hand in glove with him and my Republican colleagues to kickstart his administration and make America great again by making the Senate work again.”