Rick Scott is signaling that he won’t be changing his stripes as he prepares for his second term, even as he heads into what should be his best days in office.
In recent days, Scott has been singing out of the same hymnbook he’s used for years. Scott announced the jobless rate dropped to 6 percent on Friday and continued to note how it has fallen since he took over in Tallahassee. Last week, Scott announced he would hold a spartan inauguration ceremony in January with barbecues instead of inaugural balls and, of course, jobs will be the theme.
That messaging certainly worked for Scott before. It helped him beat Bill McCollum and Alex Sink in 2010. As unpopular as he continues to be with Florida voters, Scott’s record on jobs helped him survive against Charlie Crist, especially since the Sunshine State hemorrhaged jobs on that Democrat’s watch.
Scott heads into a second term holding most of the cards. Republicans have a lock on the Florida House and, while the Senate is more chaotic and unruly, the GOP majority should be enough to pass most of Scott’s agenda. Whatever his agenda for the second term, including raising education spending, Scott should be able to claim a few victories. Defeated and disorganized, the Democrats simply aren’t going to be a roadblock to Scott’s plans over the next two years at least.
Even as Scott’s team goes through a transition, it shouldn’t prove too much of a problem for the governor. Melissa Sellers takes over from Adam Hollingsworth as chief of staff but Scott’s team should see little in the way of growing pains. While there has been a little bit of a shuffle, most of the new members of the team are veterans of Scott world. Scott won’t have the stumbles at the start of his second term the way he did when he was beginning his tenure in Tallahassee back in 2011.
There’s also another newer face on Scott’s team who could be more prominent in the coming years. Scott certainly seems more comfortable with Carlos Lopez-Cantera than he ever did with Jennifer Carroll. Lopez-Cantera was a constant presence on the campaign trail with Scott and they’ve often teamed up in the days after the election with the lieutenant governor appearing at events with his boss. It’ll be interesting to see where Lopez-Cantera goes from here and what tasks Scott assigns him in the new term.
The new year should be a prime opportunity for Scott to push his agenda, especially as half the Senate and every House seat will be up for grabs in 2016 which is already shaping up as a major presidential election. After the 2016 elections, much of the focus will be on who replaces Scott in Tallahassee, though he will certainly have a few cards to play even if Democrats make gains in the Legislature. But, for now, this is Scott’s moment and he has the chance to claim some big wins in the months to come.
Tallahassee political writer Jeff Henderson wrote this analysis exclusively for Sunshine State News.
