The Rick Scott GOP unity tour ended on a high note at the Duval County Republican Party headquarters in Jacksonville on Tuesday night with a ringing endorsement from former Gov. Jeb Bush.
“I’m about as old as Moses when you think about politics, and I have seen a lot of different people come and go,” Bush said. “But here is a guy that I know — his compass points north, he knows exactly what he wants to do, he has the practical experience from the private sector to execute on his dreams.”
Most of Bush’s remarks centered around the economy, and the next governor’s role in creating a climate where small business can flourish.
“I want the cloud to be lifted, and I want our aspirations to be big and bold, and I want Florida to be the place that people look to when they say, ‘They got it right. They figured out they had problems, they reorganized themselves in the right way, and they restored a sense of hope and optimism,’” Bush said. “That’s what we can do if we elect this good man as your next governor.”
Though Bush had previously stumped with Scott’s primary opponent Bill McCollum, he declined at the time to join in GOP attacks on Scott’s character, which makes his endorsement seem more earnest and less like a flip-flop than that of other GOP leaders.