Gov. Rick Scott speaks to the media outside the White House on Sept. 29 following a meeting with President Donald Trump. | Getty Trump’s New Year’s resolution: Getting Scott to run for Senate in Florida

President Donald Trump wrapped up another private lunch Sunday in South Florida with Gov. Rick Scott, but the biggest political item wasn’t on the official New Year's Eve menu at Trump International: Whether Scott will run for U.S. Senate or not in 2018.

No one is a bigger booster of the idea than Trump, who rang in the 2017 New Year with private calls to the term-limited Scott and politicos urging him to challenge Florida’s three-term incumbent, Sen. Bill Nelson, the only Democrat elected statewide. In June, Trump publicly called on Scott during a Miami event about Cuba policy to seek the Senate seat. And Trump did it again in September.


“I hope this man right here, Rick Scott, runs for the Senate,” Trump said after examining Hurricane Irma’s damage in Fort Myers and Naples, Scott’s hometown.

Each time, Trump has urged him on, Scott has demurred.

And, if the Senate race came up again at lunch, those who know the governor expect him to stay tight-lipped. It's a nod to his cautious and meticulous approach to politics, as well as his awareness of Trump’s Twitter trigger finger, which could disclose a secret the governor wants to keep under wraps.

“Rick is careful and he loves the president, but he hasn’t made his mind up [about a Senate bid] and he doesn’t want this just blurted out,” said a Florida Republican insider familiar with the governor’s thinking.

A White House spokeswoman said in addition to discussing ongoing hurricane recovery efforts, infrastructure and the tax cut bill in their meeting, the president underscored the importance of Scott’s leadership in Florida, and the two indicated that they look forward to working together in the new year.

After this story was initially published, the governor's office said Scott and Trump did not discuss the 2018 Senate race.

As one of 10 Democrats facing reelection in a state Trump won, Nelson is seen as vulnerable by many political insiders. But Trump’s relative lack of popularity — and Florida voters’ penchant for punishing the party of the president in power — could weigh on Scott, who would probably have to spend tens of millions of his own fortune on a race.

Polls indicate the epic potential matchup between the two is tied.

Scott is expected to make a decision in the coming weeks. He just finished out a $2 million ad blitz funded by his Let’s Get to Work political committee, which has about $500,000 cash on hand. Scott is allowed to coordinate, raise and spend unlimited corporate money for the state political committee as long as he’s not a federal candidate. Among the nearly $108,000 in expenditures on consultants this month: $56,000 for “research” by OnMessage Inc.

“My view on this is that it’s going to be a very tough year for Republicans all over this country,” said Chris Ruddy, founder of the conservative NewsMax publication, who’s a member of Trump International and Mar-a-Lago. “There’s going to be such an anti-Trump wave, because of all the negative media attacks against the president, it’s going to be a tough year.”

Regardless of how much Trump and Scott talk about politics, they were expected to dwell most on Scott’s top issues as governor, according to aides.

“President Trump invited Governor Scott to lunch this Sunday. The governor looks forward to speaking with the president about issues that are important to Floridians, like the needed repairs to the federally operated Herbert Hoover Dike surrounding Lake Okeechobee and the recovery of Florida’s citrus industry from Hurricane Irma,” said John Tupps, Scott’s communications director. “Whenever the governor meets with federal officials, including the president, he advocates for Floridians.”

Since Trump’s election, Scott has grown closer to the president, whom he has known for decades.

In January, Scott attended a large candlelight dinner honoring Trump. The following month, he joined Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker at a private lunch with the president and talked about Obamacare. The president and Scott then watched “La La Land” at the White House, and they later dined together at Trump International Hotel. They then joined family members and U.K. Independence Party leader Nigel Farage for dinner at the Trump International Hotel Washington.

Weeks later, in March, Scott joined Trump at St. Andrew Catholic School in Orlando for a school-choice event. In the limo ride with the president, Scott and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) pitched Trump on a proposed Cuba crackdown that the president announced the next month.

Also in June, Scott met at the White House to pitch Trump, again, on helping out with infrastructure, and the Okeechobee dike specifically. Later that month, Scott joined Trump's daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, at a New York State Republican Committee annual gala.

In August, the topic of infrastructure again was on the table when Scott joined the president for lunch at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J. Then, in September, Trump publicly pitched Scott as a Senate candidate after Hurricane Irma struck. Later that month, after Scott visited Puerto Rico as it grappled with Hurricane Maria’s destruction, Scott again had lunch at the White House.

“This is not a time for politics," Scott said on the White House lawn at the time as he pledged to “do everything I can" to help the island’s governor, Ricardo Rosselló.

But for all the downplaying of politics, it binds Scott and Trump.

Scott now runs the New Republican PAC, which is branded as a pro-Trump super PAC. It is working to “re-brand” the Republican party in Trump’s image, including appealing to Hispanic voters.

“Donald Trump’s election was a complete shock to the system in Washington,” reads the group’s website. “This is the perfect opportunity to do things differently.”

Though the super PAC is branded as pro-Trump, the site features Scott and has become the landing spot for political contributions from Florida donors that generally give large amounts of money in state — not federal — races, a fact that has led many to speculate the group will play a large role in backing Scott’s likely 2018 Senate bid against Nelson.

Among the donors since Scott took over the super PAC are Gulf Coast Health Care, a Pensacola-based company that owns 35 nursing facilities across the state that won a heated intra-party funding fight last session ($40,000); and the holding company of The Villages, a politically powerful retirement community in Central Florida ($100,000).

The committee’s treasurer is Mori Hosseini, a longtime Florida Republican rainmaker that Scott appointed to the University of Florida Board of Trustees in 2016, and one of its top advisers is Melissa Stone, a former Scott chief of staff and longtime political consultant.

But there’s only so much Scott can fundraise as he enters his lame-duck last 60-day legislative session, which begins Jan. 9. After the budget is fully signed, Scott loses a big amount of fundraising leverage and will have to rely on his personal millions.

Florida Republicans like Ruddy say they expect Trump will continue to urge Scott to run for Senate anyway. He said the two men “have a mutual admiration society” for each other when they’re together. And Trump is deeply interested in Florida politics. He even joked that Trump might switch his residence from New York after signing a tax cut bill that makes residency in states like Florida more attractive.

“Donald’s adopted home state is Florida. After this whole tax thing, that might change. Who knows?” Ruddy said.