Rick Scott (Republican Party) is a member of the U.S. Senate from Florida. He assumed office on January 3, 2019. His current term ends on January 3, 2025.
Scott (Republican Party) is running for re-election to the U.S. Senate to represent Florida. He declared candidacy for the general election scheduled on November 5, 2024.
In the 2018 election, Scott defeated incumbent Bill Nelson (D) by about 0.2 percentage points. Nelson had served in the Senate since 2000.
Before his election to the Senate, Scott served as governor of Florida from 2011 to 2019. In 2010, Scott defeated Alex Sink (D) by 1.2 percentage points after winning a competitive Republican primary against Attorney General Bill McCollum by about 3 percentage points. In 2014, Scott was re-elected by 1 percentage point over former Gov. Charlie Crist, who switched to the Democratic Party even though he had been a Republican while in office.
Scott's notable actions during his governorship included responding to natural disasters such as Hurricanes Irma and Michael, signing legislation in the aftermath of a school shooting in Parkland, Florida, that, among other things, restricted young persons' access to firearms, and supporting the expansion of charter schools in Florida.
Prior to serving in public office, Scott co-founded Columbia Hospital Corporation and later merged it with Hospital Corporation of America to form Columbia/HCA. Scott resigned from Columbia/HCA as part of a settlement in a federal fraud investigation and later started an investment company.
On November 10, 2020, Senate Republicans selected Scott to lead the National Republican Senatorial Committee for the 2022 campaign cycle.
Scott was born in Bloomington, Illinois. He grew up in Kansas City, Missouri. After high school, Scott spent one year in community college before joining the U.S. Navy.
He served for over two years, with much of that time spent aboard the U.S.S. Glover as a radar technician. Upon leaving the Navy, Scott attended the University of Missouri-Kansas City and went on to law school at Southern Methodist University. He began his business career while in college, purchasing two doughnut shops. After law school he joined Johnson & Swanson in Dallas, Texas; at the time, the firm was the largest in the city.
While a partner at Johnson & Swanson in 1987, Scott formed HCA Acquisition Company specifically to acquire Hospital Corporation of America and secured funding conditional on completing the acquisition. The initial offer was declined by HCA and ultimately withdrawn.
The next year, he formed Columbia Hospital Corporation and acquired several Dallas area hospitals. Beginning in 1992, Scott and his partners bought one hospital per year for four years, including Hospital Corporation of America. By 1997, Columbia/HCA was the largest healthcare provider in the world, with annual revenues exceeding $23 billion.
While Scott was CEO of Columbia/HCA, a federal investigation was launched, and the company ultimately paid $1.7 billion in fines. As part of the settlement, Scott resigned from the company in 1997. He said that he was unaware of the fraud and that he was never indicted or questioned in the case. Scott then moved to Naples, Florida, and founded Richard L. Scott Investments. Starting in 1998, the firm acquired numerous companies.
