It’s more than a bit rankling to see Scott attempt to reward himself at the expense of an ongoing GOP campaign.
A fundraising email sent to would-be GOP donors this morning by the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) implores its recipients to “make an emergency donation as soon as possible” to help Herschel Walker unseat incumbent Democrat Raphael Warnock in the upcoming Georgia runoff election.
According to the Daily Beast‘s Roger Sollenberger, though, the default settings attached to the donation link on the email would have directed $98 of a $100 gift to the NRSC itself. The remaining $2 would be divided between Florida senator Rick Scott, the organization’s chairman, and the Walker campaign. It appears that in the hours since, the NRSC has adjusted the settings so that Walker would receive $20, while Scott would still receive a dollar.
New fundraising email from NRSC chair Rick Scott asking to help Herschel Walker, who “needs as much support as he can get.” But 98% of the money is automatically allocated to the NRSC. Of the remaining 2%, Rick Scott himself gets as much as Herschel does. https://t.co/XfxvnZ2Cbj pic.twitter.com/WywgcbRsTT
— Roger Sollenberger (@SollenbergerRC) November 21, 2022
The NRSC says it is spending the money it’s collecting on supporting Walker in Georgia. Fair enough; we’ll see at the end of the cycle how its inflows match its outflows. But Scott’s capitalizing on the scramble to elect Walker is less defensible.
The Walker campaign has already asked other Republicans — looking at you, Donald Trump, J. D. Vance, and Ted Budd — to stop sending deceptive fundraising emails stressing the importance of Walker’s race while disproportionately directing the money raised into their own campaigns’ coffers. “We need everyone focused on winning the Georgia Senate race, and deceptive fundraising tactics by teams that just won their races are siphoning money away from Georgia,” argued Walker’s campaign manager last week.
So why is Rick Scott, whose job it is to elect Republicans to the Senate, siphoning away funds from Walker for his 2024 reelection bid in a state where his colleague, Marco Rubio, just prevailed by more than 16 points?
I have no doubt that Senator Scott worked hard to elect Republicans to the upper chamber of Congress over the last two years; but his efforts, however prodigious, were not successful. It’s more than a bit rankling to see him attempt to reward himself for them at the expense of an ongoing GOP campaign.
In a statement, a senior adviser to the Walker campaign, said that “the NRSC and Sen. Scott have been great partners and committed tens of millions in resources and staff to helping us win,” and were working “hand in hand” with the campaign.