Campaign

Scott to attend new member orientation amid recount

by Jordain Carney - 11/12/18 4:42 PM ET

GOP Florida Gov. Rick Scott is traveling to Washington, D.C., this week to participate in freshman orientation and vote in Senate Republican leadership elections, his campaign said Monday.

{mosads}The move will have Scott in Washington participating in events as a senator-elect before he has been declared the winner of the Florida Senate race, where he is battling to unseat Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson (Fla.).

“This week, Senator-elect Scott will fly to Washington to participate in new-member orientation, including the photo and voting in leadership elections,” Scott’s campaign said in an email to reporters.

New membership orientation is scheduled for Tuesday, while the Senate Republican caucus will hold closed-door leadership elections on Wednesday.

It comes after Scott told The Washington Post on Sunday that he wasn’t sure when he would come to D.C., but that he wanted to participate in caucus elections and had been encouraged to attend orientation.

The Senate battle was one of the three statewide races in Florida that were ordered to go to a recount, with Scott leading Nelson by more than 12,500 votes or about 0.15 percentage points.

The deadline for the machine recount is Thursday at 3 p.m. If the margin between the candidates is within 0.25 points after the machine recount is conducted, a hand recount will be triggered.

The race has sparked a bitter, partisan fight with Scott accusing Nelson of trying to “steal” the election. Democrats, meanwhile, argue Scott is trying to prevent lawfully cast ballots from being counted and have called for Scott to recuse himself from “any role” in the recount process.

Florida and Arizona are two Senate races which remain uncalled nearly a week after the midterm election.

Spokespeople for Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), who has emerged with a lead in the race to succeed retiring Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about if she would participate in the Senate’s new member activities or leadership elections.

Tags Bill Nelson Election recount Florida recount Florida Senate race Jeff Flake leadership elections new member orientation