PanamaTimes

Sunday, Oct 25, 2026

Florida Sen. Rick Scott, who led the campaign arm to elect GOP senators, called the 2022 midterms a 'complete disappointment'

Florida Sen. Rick Scott, who led the campaign arm to elect GOP senators, called the 2022 midterms a 'complete disappointment'

"I think we've got to reflect now. What didn't happen?" Scott said on Friday while on Fox News. "I think we didn't have enough of a positive message."
Sen. Rick Scott, the head of the campaign arm to elect GOP senators, on Friday called the 2022 midterm election results a "complete disappointment" for the Republican Party as so-called red wave failed to materialize.

The Florida lawmaker told Fox News host Sean Hannity that GOP voters simply did not turn out in sufficient numbers on Election Day to counteract Democratic voters across the country.

Hannity, who featured many GOP candidates on his program this year, questioned the perception of 2022 being a marquee year for Republicans.

"Where did all this pie-in-the-sky talk about a wave and a tsunami election come from? Because I never saw it," Hannity said.

Scott responded: "Here's what happened to us. Election Day ... our voters didn't show up. We didn't get enough voters. It's a complete disappointment."

The Florida senator served as the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee during the current cycle and barnstormed the country in support of some of the party's most high-profile candidates.

Scott said that while GOP candidates were vocal in critiquing President Joe Biden's administration, the party didn't effectively offer a positive vision for voters in what was the first major national election after the 2020 presidential contest and the January 6, 2021, attack at the United States Capitol.

"I think we've got to reflect now. What didn't happen?" he continued to say. "I think we didn't have enough of a positive message. We said everything about how bad the Biden agenda was. It's bad, the Democrats are radical, but we have to have a plan of what we stand for."

Based on historical milestones, many observers expected Republicans to make major gains in Congress, as Biden has struggled with middling approval ratings and an electorate that has been frustrated by the direction of the country.

But Democrats have so far defied conventional wisdom, with the party on the cusp of potentially maintaining their Senate majority; control of the House is still up in the air days after the election, a scenario which was seen as highly unlikely even a week ago.

Scott — along with Republican Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Mike Lee of Utah — issued a letter this week asking for colleagues to delay a Senate GOP leadership vote on Wednesday.

"We are all disappointed that a red wave failed to materialize, and there are multiple reasons it did not," the letter read. "We need to have serious discussions within our conference as to why and what we can do to improve our chances in 2024."

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who earlier this year spoke of how "candidate quality" plays a major role in races for the upper chamber, has led the GOP caucus since 2007.

He has long enjoyed the near-universal support of his colleagues, but Scott was poised to launch a challenge to the Bluegrass State senator until it became clear that a GOP majority might not happen and that the outcome in Georgia's Senate race wouldn't be decided until next month, per Politico.

While on Hannity's show, Scott took the time to boost Georgia Republican Senate nominee Herschel Walker, who will face Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock in a Dec. 6 runoff election after neither candidate cleared the 50% threshold of victory mandated by state law earlier this week.

"We have got to do everything we can to help Herschel," Scott said.
Newsletter

Related Articles

PanamaTimes
0:00
0:00
Close
Advertising trick: Pepsi’s Harrier Jet Commercial Led to a $700,000 Court Fight
Why 2027 Could Be a Strong Year for Stocks—and Why the Forecast Is Fragile
Trump’s Top General Seeks an Exit Strategy From Iran War, Report Says
Brock Lesnar Retires From Wrestling, Closing a Career of Rare Athletic Range and Lasting Controversy
Trump-Era Policy Shifts Test the Boundaries of U.S. Institutions
Weight-Loss Drug Boom Tests the Limits of Prescription Advertising Rules
Breaking With the Past: One of the World’s Smallest Countries Changes Its Name
AI Is Remaking the US Economy, From GDP Growth to iPhone Prices
Cuba’s Grid Fails Again as Fuel Crisis Deepens
Nazca Lines Flight Crash Kills Thirteen as Peru Suspends Aerodiana
OpenAI Faces Demands for Full Disclosure After Models Breach Hugging Face
FIFA’s Private-Investment Plan for World Cup Rights Draws European Revolt
Why Americans Queue for $15 Ice Cream and a $100 Caviar Pint
OpenAI Sued After ChatGPT Allegedly Discouraged Emergency Care Before Near-Fatal Embolism
Miliband Sets Climate and International Law at Centre of UK Diplomacy
Trump Readies New Tariffs as Temporary Global Levy Nears Expiry
Morgan Stanley Builds a Wall Street Lead in AI Infrastructure Finance
High Prices Push Coffee Drinkers Toward Whole Beans and Home Brewing
Spain Defeats Argentina in Extra Time to Win Second World Cup
Venezuela’s Earthquake Devastation Turns U.S. Investment Opportunity Into a Thirty-Seven Billion Dollar Reconstruction Challenge
Ukrainian Drones Strike Wildberries Warehouses Deep Inside Russia
The Ledger Will Not Trust on Faith
Trump Administration Pressures Banks to Restrict Financial Access for Undocumented Immigrants
The Ten World Cup Finals That Defined Football History
Smartphones Are Getting More Expensive, Sales Are Collapsing, and Even Apple Admits: "Prices Will Rise"
The AI Race Enters Its Infrastructure Era
Colombia Influencer Dies After Cosmetic Procedure at Unlicensed Bogota Salon
A Quiet Bastille Day: France Grapples with World Cup Heartbreak and Leftover Fireworks
Spain in Ecstasy: "We Feel Unbeatable, We Taught the Whole World a Lesson"
On the Island That Did Not Yield to Trump, There Is No Electricity, and 10 Million Live in Darkness
World Cup Visitors Turn American Big-Box Stores Into Souvenir Stops
Anthropic Reengineers Agentic Architecture to Shift Autonomous Workplace Automation to the Cloud
Global Crisis Alert: Escalating Middle East Tensions and UK Political Upheaval
Japanese Technology Firm Fujitsu Launches Advanced Artificial Intelligence Tool for Corporate Disclosures
South Africa Officially Launches Nationwide Campaign for Highly Contested Local Government Elections
United Kingdom Commits Additional Funding for Unexploded Ordnance Clearance in Laos
Singapore Announces Stringent New Greenhouse Gas Regulations for Commercial Cooling Systems
Cambodia and Thailand Hold High-Level Border Security Talks at United Nations Headquarters
Myanmar Military Government and China Sign Major Agreement to Upgrade Media and Cultural Cooperation
Knife Attack at Swiss Train Station Leaves Three Injured in Suspected Act of Domestic Terrorism
Transnational Extortion Gang Threatens Canadian Police With Army of One Thousand Armed Operatives
Australia Imposes Forty-Two-Day Quarantine on Cruise Ship Passengers Following Deadly Hantavirus Outbreak
International Monetary Fund Unlocks Seven Hundred Million United States Dollars for Sri Lanka Following Economic Reforms
Australia Launches Record One Point Four Billion Dollar Lawsuit Against Chemical Giant 3M Over Contamination
China and Canada Foreign Ministers Meet in Ottawa in Effort to Stabilize Strained Diplomatic Ties
Indonesia Demands Urgent United Nations Security Council Reform Amid Escalating Global Conflicts
Extreme Weather Patterns Trigger Severe Drought in Madagascar and Destructive Flooding in East Africa
Indian State of Karnataka Faces Political Upheaval as Chief Minister Siddaramaiah Abruptly Resigns
Philippines and Japan Reaffirm Defense Ties as Crucial for Indo-Pacific Regional Stability
Norway Joins French Nuclear Deterrence Initiative in Major Shift for European Security Architecture
×