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Senator Rick Scott, who heads the Senate Republican campaign
committee, triggered party concerns about a potentially damaging
quarrel with McConnell last week by railing against people in
the party who he said were "trash-talking" Republican Senate
candidates.
"It's an amazing act of cowardice, and ultimately, it's
treasonous to the conservative cause," Scott wrote in a Sept. 1
Op-Ed article in the Washington Examiner. The article ran weeks
after McConnell had cited candidate quality as a reason why
Republicans could have a better chance of winning a majority in
the House of Representatives than in the Senate.
But Scott told reporters on Tuesday that his comments were aimed
at anonymous critics, not at McConnell.
"It said people are doing anonymous quotes and trashing our
Republican candidates," Scott said after exiting a Republican
leadership meeting with McConnell in the U.S. Capitol. Asked
specifically if his references were about McConnell, Scott
replied: "No."
"I think it's important that we all work together to figure out
how we can win," Scott said.
First-time Senate Republican candidates endorsed by former
President Donald Trump have weathered embarrassing gaffes or
have failed to pull ahead of their Democratic rivals in key
states such as Arizona, Georgia, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
With the Senate split 50-50 and Democrats in charge only because
of Vice President Kamala Harris's tie-breaking vote, Republicans
need a net gain of only one seat to gain the majority.
The Senate Republican campaign committee that Scott chairs has
also been short on money, with $23 million of cash at the end of
July. Its Democratic rival had $54 million, according to the
Federal Election Commission.
(Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Leslie Adler)
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