2022 Senate Republican Conference leadership election

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November 16, 2022

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Candidate	Mitch McConnell	Rick Scott
Home state	Kentucky	Florida
Members' vote	37	10
Percentage	78.7%	21.3%

Leader before election

Mitch McConnell

Elected Leader

Mitch McConnell

On November 16, 2022, Republican members of the United States Senate held an election to determine the leader of the Senate Republican Conference. Incumbent leader Mitch McConnell defeated a challenge by Florida senator Rick Scott in a vote by secret ballot. This was the first contested conference leadership election since 1996, and marked a departure from the tradition of unanimously confirming incumbent leaders who chose to run for re-election. Only those who were expected to serve as Republican senators in the 118th Congress were allowed to cast a vote.

Overview

Republicans failed to produce a predicted red wave during the 2022 United States elections. Some more conservative Republicans blamed this failure on current leadership, like incumbent Senate Republican Conference leader Mitch McConnell. The election marked the first time since 1996 a contested Senate Republican leadership challenge has gone to a vote.

Candidates

The following candidates declared their intent to run.

Candidate	State	Other Senate roles	Ref.
Mitch McConnell	Kentucky (Served since 1985)	Leader of the Senate Republican Conference (Since 2007) Republican Senate Whip (2003–2007) Chair of the Senate Rules Committee (1999–2001)
Rick Scott	Florida (Served since 2019)	Chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (Since 2021)