‘I Have the Votes’: McConnell Says He’ll Fend off Rick Scott’s Leadership Challenge After Tense Meeting

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) says he has the votes necessary to repel a challenge from Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) for the top Republican leadership position.

Senate Republicans met for three hours on Tuesday, where Scott made the case that a change in leadership is needed. Afterward, McConnell emerged and hardly seemed concerned about an upcoming vote on the matter, which may happen as early as Wednesday.

McConnell provided some insights at a press conference:

Well, as you noticed, we had a rather lengthy and fulsome discussion not only of the election, but about the way forward. And I think it’s pretty obvious we may or may not be voting tomorrow. But I think the outcome is pretty clear. I want to repeat again, I have the votes. I will be elected. The only issue is whether we do it sooner or later. And I think we’ll probably have another discussion about that tomorrow.

Reports stated that Scott and McConnell had a tense exchange during the meeting.

“Sen. Rick Scott and GOP Leader Mitch McConnell engaged in a tense back-and-forth where they criticized each other as the two men addressed Senate Republicans in a tense three-hour meeting, according to multiple senators,” CNN’s Manu Raju reported.

He quoted Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) as saying, “Senator Scott disagrees with the approach that Mitch has taken in this election and for the last couple of years, and he made that clear and Senator McConnell criticized Senator Scott’s management of the NRSC.”

Scott has come under fire over his chairmanship of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, whose job it was to ensure Republicans retook the Senate in last week’s midterms. However, the GOP failed to do so.

Watch above via C-SPAN.