GOP acrimony spills over at heated Senate lunch

Senate Republicans let their fury and frustration out at one another during a lengthy closed-door meeting that revealed the bitter feelings left over from a crushingly disappointing midterm election.

An at times nasty and personal discussion took place at the Senate GOP lunch, where Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who have been at odds for months, traded recriminations over who was to blame for the GOP’s failure to win back the Senate.

The biggest fireworks came after McConnell stood up at one point in the meeting and observed that while he heard a lot of criticism of his leadership style, no one had yet announced any plan to challenge him for the job of Republican leader.

Scott, the chairman of the Senate campaign arm, then interjected to say that he planned to challenge McConnell at Wednesday morning’s leadership election, catching many of his GOP colleagues by surprise, according to a Republican source familiar with the conversation in the room.