Elon Musk and Trump Allies Back Rick Scott for Senate Majority Leader

Allies of President-elect Donald Trump including tech billionaire Elon Musk showed their support on social media on Sunday for Senator Rick Scott, a Florida Republican, to be the next Senate majority leader.
With Republicans winning control of the U.S. Senate in this year’s election, discussions about who will replace outgoing Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, have come into sharper focus.
The new GOP majority will be tasked with selecting a caucus leader after being sworn in on January 3 since McConnell announced earlier this year that he will step down from his position in the new term.
Scott has renewed his push for the leadership position after Republicans flipped four seats from Democrats in this year’s election, falling short of a potential super majority.
Scott, a Trump-backed candidate who was elected for a second term this week, reiterated his intent and belief that he will be the next Senate majority leader on Wednesday, telling Fox News, “I’m going to win.”
“I’ve been talking to my Republican colleagues, guess what. They want change,” Scott said. “They know that Trump has a mandate, they want to be part of that mandate. They want to be treated as equals.”
Since then, some allies close to Trump are seeing Scott as a viable option as several of them took to social media on Sunday to announce their support for him.
Newsweek has reached out to Scott’s campaign via email for comment.
Musk enthusiastically threw in his support for Scott on his social media platform and wrote on X,” Rick Scott for Senate Majority Leader!.”
While the SpaceX CEO is not a member of the U.S government and cannot vote for Senate majority, he has been vocal about the 2024 elections as he strongly backed Trump.
Representative Byron Donalds, a Florida Republican, wrote on X, formerly Twitter, “This week the Senate GOP must elect Senator Rick Scott to be the next Majority Leader. @ScottforFlorida will be effective in accomplishing the Trump agenda in the US Senate. Let’s get to Work!!”
Senator Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, also took to X to state his support and wrote, “I will be voting for my Florida colleague @ScottforFlorida to be our next Senate GOP leader.”
Meanwhile, Senator Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican, showed his support and wrote on X, “I will be supporting Rick Scott for Senate Majority Leader.”
Replying to former Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s post on X in which he calls Scott “the only candidate who agrees with Trump,” former independent presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr., wrote that “without Rick Scott, the entire Trump reform agenda wobbly.”
Also replying to Carlson’s remarks, Senator Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican, wrote: “President Trump needs Rick Scott as Majority Leader to shepherd his bold agenda through the U.S. Senate!”
Senator Mike Lee, a Utah Republican, has publicly backed Scott as an option and urged Trump to do the same.
While selection for majority leader is expected to take place this coming week, leadership elections are closed-door affairs and conducted by secret ballot, meaning that a senator’s vote is not publicly known. However, to win, a candidate needs a simple majority.
In a previous news release on Friday, Scott’s campaign noted the support he has received, “A number of conservative leaders have lined up behind Senator Scott’s bid for leader thanks to his record of taking action and fighting for the values of this country. They know he is the only person for the job with the ability to accomplish President Trump’s goals in the Senate.”
This comes after a report from Axios released on Friday stated that Trump had privately dismissed Scott as an option weeks ago, telling allies that the senator’s bid was “not serious.”
A senior Trump campaign official denied the report and dismissed the anonymous sources Axios cited, saying Trump “hasn’t weighed in on the leadership race and anyone who says differently is wrong.”
Much like the presidential election, which remained close until Election Day, the race to replace McConnell as GOP Senate leader has a few candidates who have all jockeyed hard for the position without any single candidate having a stand-out advantage so far.
Other candidates who have staked a claim to the leadership role include South Dakota Senator John Thune, who currently serves as the minority whip; Texas Senator John Cornyn; and Wyoming Senator John Barrasso. Thune, as whip, is seen by many as the frontrunner, with Barrasso highly rated as the third-ranking Republican in the Senate.
Update 11/10/24, 6:03 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information
Update 11/10/24, 7:46 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information and headline change.