The three-way contest between Scott, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), and Senate GOP Whip John Thune (R-SD) will be conducted by secret ballot on Wednesday. The trio is jockeying to lock down votes from a majority of colleagues who have yet to make their endorsements on who should succeed longtime leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY).

Scott has received a burst of endorsements from Trumpworld figures and organizations, including the likes of Tucker Carlson, Vivek Ramaswamy, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Charlie Kirk, CPAC, and even Elon Musk. On the Hill, the senators who have endorsed him include Sens. Ron Johnson (R-WI), Rand Paul (R-KY), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Tommy Tuberville (R-AL).

“Rick Scott for Senate Majority Leader!” Musk, a close Trump ally, wrote over the weekend.

“Rick Scott of Florida is the only candidate who agrees with Donald Trump,” Carlson, the former Fox News host, posted. “Call your senator and demand a public endorsement of Rick Scott.”

Trump hasn’t made an endorsement, and there’s no indication he plans to set himself up for possible failure by doing so with an intraparty race that has taken on a presidential-style feel. But Scott is doubling and tripling down that a vote for him is a vote for an anti-establishment rabble-rouser who wants to diverge from business as usual and do whatever it takes to advance Trump’s priorities.

“I believe I’m going to win because I represent exactly what the Trump team wants and what Trump wants and what the American public wants,” Scott said Monday on Fox News.

But the pressure campaign from MAGA acolytes has the potential to backfire on Scott and push senators away, some chamber insiders say. While Scott himself hasn’t promoted the echo chamber of demands for his installment as leader, some conservative influencers aren’t helping their own cause to propel the Florida Republican into the position.

Benny Johnson, for example, posted an unofficial whip count inaccurately claiming that Thune is supporting Cornyn rather than himself, along with the supposed positions of GOP senators and senators-elect who haven’t staked out a side.

A source close to Scott described the grassroots support as organic and that it underscored the desire for change in Senate leadership following Trump’s political comeback. They said Scott remained focused on making his case personally to colleagues ahead of Wednesday’s vote.

Thune and Cornyn remain the front-runners in the contest that will require a majority vote among senators-elect and returning Republican senators next Congress despite the loud online conservative chatter for Scott. Those in the Senate who back Thune include Sens. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) and Mike Rounds (R-SD). The lone endorsement for Cornyn, who was the GOP whip during Trump’s first term, is from Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO).

Scott unsuccessfully challenged McConnell in 2022 and was backed then by Trump. The bid came in the wake of frustrations with Scott for his handling that midterm cycle of the Senate GOP’s campaign arm and blaming him for winnable losses that allowed Democrats to expand their majority by one seat. Scott further irked Republican colleagues in the months that followed with a rogue plan to “rescue America” that included sunsetting Social Security, which he later walked back.

Scott, who was elected to a second term last week, is now lobbying Trump to again put his thumb on the scale. The strategy sharply contrasts that of Thune, who (along with Mullin) have tried to fend off Trump intervening over fears he might endorse Cornyn or Scott.

“I hope he weighs in. I welcome his support,” Scott said on Fox. “There’s other people that clearly would like what I’m talking about. But it’s a secret ballot, so we’ll see if they come out publicly and support me.”

Nevertheless, the MAGA movement behind Scott is needling Thune and Cornyn to overcome past grievances with Trump and further lay out how they plan to work closely with the president-elect. In some ways, it’s putting them on their heels to align with his desires, such as getting all three candidates to agree to circumvent normal chamber votes so Cabinet appointments can be temporarily installed during Senate recesses to speed up the process.

Trump posted over the weekend that any of them vying for the “coveted LEADERSHIP position in the United States Senate must agree to Recess Appointments” because he will “need positions filled IMMEDIATELY!”

Thune said the Senate will need to “act quickly and decisively to get the president’s nominees in place as soon as possible, and all options are on the table to make that happen, including recess appointments.”

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Cornyn vowed he would require the Senate to “stay in session, including weekends,” to overcome any Democratic roadblocks, but he noted the Constitution also “expressly confers the power on the president to make recess appointments.”

Scott, on Fox, said he was “all on board.”