Rick Scott Endorses Trump Over DeSantis

Florida Sen. Rick Scott said Gov. Ron DeSantis never asked for his endorsement in the race for the Republican nomination for president. And he didn't receive it. Scott, whom DeSantis succeeded as governor, said Thursday he's backing Donald Trump. Although he's worked with his home state's governor, Scott said he's also familiar with the former president, NBC News reports. "I have known Trump a long time before," the GOP senator said, adding, "I endorsed him in 2016, and I worked with him well when I was governor [of Florida] and in the Senate."

DeSantis and Scott, and their teams, have had issues, and the senator said they two haven't spoken since August, when they conferred on Hurricane Idalia. Scott stayed in office until DeSantis was inaugurated before going to Washington, making a rush of appointments, some of them hours before his successor was sworn in, per CNN. DeSantis then reversed many of those appointments. DeSantis' communications director expressed no worries Thursday, saying that the governor "has the support of almost all Florida elected officials." Scott added insult to snub when announcing his endorsement, saying grassroots Republicans in Florida have told him they want the campaigning DeSantis in the office they elected him to. "A lot of them just want him to come home and be governor," Scott said. (More Donald Trump 2024 stories.)