Rick Scott will challenge Mitch McConnell for Republican Senate leader

Rick Scott on Tuesday announced he will challenge Mitch McConnell in Wednesday's leadership election for Senate Republicans.

The Florida Republican made his announcement to his colleagues during a closed-door luncheon for senators on Capitol Hill. 

'The status quo is broken and big change is needed. It's time for new leadership in the Senate that unites Republicans to advance a bold conservative agenda. That's why I'm running to be the Senate Republican Leader,' Scott wrote on Twitter. 

Scott, a Republican from Florida, is hoping to marshall GOP anger at their failure to win the Senate majority into a win over McConnell, the longtime Republican leader. His odds are seen as slim.

McConnell brushed off the challenge.

'I don't own this job. Anybody in the conference is certainly entitled to challenge me. I welcome the contest,' he said in the Capitol on Tuesday afternoon. 

Democrats sealed their majority rule of the Senate over the weekend when their candidates won key races in Nevada and Arizona.

Republicans are playing the blame game in the aftermath with McConnell and Scott, who ran the Senate's campaign arm, bickering over who is to blame for the GOP's failure.

Scott is backed by former President Donald Trump, who has long despised McConnell and blamed him for Republican losses in last week's midterm election.

McConnell's team claims the Kentucky Republican has the votes for Senate GOP Leader all tied up. 

Rick Scott (above) announced he will challenge Mitch McConnell in Wednesday's leadership election for Senate Republicans

Mitch McConnell's team says the Kentucky Republican has the votes for Senate GOP leader all tied up

Scott and his campaign arm backed the Trump-supported Senate candidates while McConnell publicly raised concerns about some of them. Trump's one victory was in Ohio, where J.D. Vance won the state's Senate seat. 

But the former president's candidates in Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Arizona suffered loses. 

McConnell on Tuesday met with the newly-elected Republican senators as he tries to hold off the challenge to his leadership.

The Senate GOP leader met with election winners Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, Ted Budd of North Carolina, Katie Britt of Alabama, J. D. Vance of Ohio, and Eric Schmitt of Missouri in his Capitol Hill office.

When asked who they were voting for in leadership, none of the newly-elected senators answered and aides rushed reporters out of the room.

Scott's team has been doubling down on blaming McConnell.  A top adviser to Scott is questioned McConnell's commitment to winning Georgia's runoff contest between Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican candidate Herschel Walker on December 6th.

Scott adviser Curt Anderson pointed out McConnell's super PAC hasn't been spending in the state.

'Extremely odd. 1 week already gone, only three to go,' Anderson told NBC News via text message. 'It would be complete malpractice and dereliction of duty to leave Herschel Walker behind.'

McConnell's committee, the Senate Leadership Fund, said it would be spending money soon. 

Trump and his allies are also fostering the blame on McConnnell even though several Trump-supported candidates - including Dr. Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania - lost their consests. 

'It's Mitch McConnell's fault,' Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social website after Democrats won the Senate. 

'The Republican brand, set by Mitch McConnell on down, is not exciting, is not persuasive, is not convincing to voters,' former Trump White House adviser Stephen Miller told Fox News' Sunday Morning Futures show. 

Mitch McConnell (center) on Tuesday met with the newly-elected Republican senators - from left Sen.-elect Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), Sen.-elect Ted Budd (R-NC), McConnell, Sen.-elect Katie Britt (R-AL), Sen.-elect JD Vance (R-OH) and Sen.-elect Eric Schmitt (R-MO)

Newly elected members of Congress gather for their class photo on the steps of the U.S. Capitol

And many Republicans are angry at the outcome of the midterms.

'Holy crap, the Democrats keep the Senate,' Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas said on his latest podcast. 'Worse than that, the Democrats potentially grow their majority in the Senate. Worse than that, yes, we take the House, but at best we're gonna take the House with a couple of seats. Maybe there is an outside chance we lose the House. I don't think we will. I think the numbers are enough that we will hold onto the House.'