Rick Scott stands by handling of NRSC in memo to donors

National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Rick Scott (R-FL) is standing by his handling of the Senate GOP’s campaign arm, taking thinly veiled swipes at some of his Republican colleagues in a new memo sent to donors.

The memo comes as multiple Republicans raise concerns over the NRSC’s cash shortfall and question Scott’s leadership ahead of the midterm elections.

In the memo, Scott argued that Republicans are well positioned to retake the majority and called those “anonymous sources” attacking his stewardship of the NRSC traitorous “to our cause.”

“As is predictable for this time of year, the vultures in the left-wing news media — The Washington Post, NY Times, CNN and the like — are roaming about trying to divide and defeat Republicans. As always, they are being aided by the typical Washington ‘anonymous sources’ whose cowardice is only exceeded by their ignorance,” he wrote.

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“The fact is that Republicans are on the verge of taking over both the Senate and the House, and the left is panicking,” he added. “As I’ve said, any so-called Republican who aids and abets the enemy is in fact trying to defeat Republican candidates and is a traitor to our cause. But these small people will not win.”

Scott went on to argue that his strategy of spending early has positioned candidates to win in November.

“Republican candidates and our party are in a better position now than we were three months ago. Here are the facts: Spending early is a feature, not a bug. And, it’s working,” he said.

“In addition to providing our candidates with polling, data, assistance to win the Hispanic vote and many other services, the NRSC spent over $45 million dollars in advertising prior to Labor Day,” Scott added. “This is crucial to taking the majority, and it is working, with all our candidates in the hunt. None were left for dead, and every Democrat we are targeting is under 50 percent in polling today.”

The questions over Scott’s leadership come as he feuds with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), a rift that emerged earlier this year over a controversial 11-point blueprint for a Republican majority next year Scott released that McConnell publicly rebuked.

The infighting over midterm strategy resurfaced in recent weeks after McConnell raised concerns about “candidate quality” as Republicans struggle in certain states, including Georgia and Pennsylvania. Scott has pushed back on the sentiment.

In the memo, Scott argued that following contentious primaries, the NRSC moved to help candidates gain traction as they were down in the polls.

“Outside groups that typically wait to significantly invest in races until after Labor Day seldom help these candidates when they are down in the polls. Many of our candidates finished bruising primaries with no money in the bank,” he continued. “The NRSC helped our candidates with early ads, and we’re proud that nearly every candidate ad that was on the air this summer had assistance from the NRSC. We will continue to do this through election day.”

Scott went on to take aim indirectly at former NRSC Chairman Todd Young’s strategy while leading the Senate GOP’s campaign arm last cycle, saying Republicans should have done more to counter candidate attacks.

“When Republicans lost the Senate last cycle, our candidates were defined by the onslaught of attack ads from Schumer’s dark money groups, with little early response from our side. For example, in 2020, Raphael Warnock made it all the way to election day without getting attacked. He entered the runoff in great shape and never looked back. As a result, we lost Georgia and the Senate was lost,” he wrote.

“I refuse to repeat a losing strategy,” Scott added. “This spring and summer, we made sure the people of Georgia learned that Warnock is a puppet of Joe Biden and his failed policies. And unlike 2020, Warnock’s approval ratings have drastically dropped this year, because we have advertised. Herschel Walker will defeat him in two months, and then Senator Walker will suddenly be deemed by official Washington as a great candidate, and the lobbyists will say ‘I was secretly for him the whole time.’”

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Scott then defended his decision to expand investments in digital fundraising despite some within the party arguing it has fallen short of expectations and sounding the alarm that the NRSC had just $23.2 million on hand in August, significantly less than what the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee had in its war chest.

“Democrats have consistently outraised Republicans in digital fundraising. This had to change — and the only way to change it was to make early investments to get new donors, which we did and it worked,” he said. “We made big investments in digital fundraising while already netting over $11 million. More importantly, we tripled the size of our house file — from 3 million to over 9 million!”

Scott added he felt the committee needed “to break some china” and revamp its strategy to compete with Democrats and has no regrets over not dabbling in primaries or invoking former President Donald Trump’s name while working to fundraise online.

“We removed vendors who had a monopoly control in digital fundraising at the NRSC, which also owned the NRSC’s data and infrastructure. I completely dismissed that model. We opened our digital fundraising up to competition and now use over 40 vendors today,” he continued. “Disgruntled former vendors and ‘anonymous sources’ will just have to deal with that.”

“I am unfazed by the Washington griping and pressing on to victory this fall. Contrary to what some in Washington believe, this is not a game, it is a battle for the future of our country. And doing things the same way will not get you a different result,” he said.

“We need a different result this time — we need a Republican majority in the Senate and House or else we will continue to get more federal debt, trillion-dollar deficits, open borders, a woke military and rampant crime. Things must change. Thank you for all you do — please donate more if you can — on to victory!” he concluded.