It was always Debbie Mucarsel-Powell vs Rick Scott in Florida U.S. Senate race

Nothing is going to change in the Debbie Mucarsel-Powell campaign.

Since Day 1, the former congresswoman, who handily beat three others in Tuesday’s Democratic primary, has concentrated on the real enemy: U.S. Sen. Rick Scott. She’s been hitting him consistently.

Press release after press release focus on Scott’s track record. “Debbie Mucarsel-Powell slams Rick Scott for Voting for a Government Shutdown,” “Debbie Mucarsel-Powell Slams Scott for Refusing to Protect IVF in the Senate,” and “Debbie Mucarsel-Powell Slams Rick Scott on Access to Health Care and Gun Violence Prevention” are just three of the press releases that came out in February alone.

In fact, when she launched her campaign in August of last year she made it clear who her target would be: “Rick Scott is trying to raise taxes on our families, he wrote a plan to end Social Security and Medicare coverage, and is trying to strip away abortion rights. Rick Scott is a fraud, and in Florida we know it.”

Even when Palm City businessman Stanley Campbell, brother of rapper and activist Luther “Uncle Luke” Campbell, got the endorsement of the AFL-CIO in June, DMP remained laser-focused on Scott and his comments about abolishing abortion.

DMP also compared the senator to Venezuelan strongmen Hugo Chavez and Nicolás Maduro in a video ad she released during the Copa América matches. “My family lived under a dictatorship. When corrupt politicians like Rick Scott attack one freedom, they never stop there. So I’m running for senate to stop him,” Mucarsel-Powell says in the 30-second video. She knows her audience.

Debbie Mucarsel-Powell lobs ‘Freedom’ video ad vs Rick Scott in Copa América

So, it was pretty clear a while ago that she knew she would win the primary. In a statement Tuesday, Mucarsell-Powell thanked her supporters and hit Scott, again.

“From day one, this campaign has been about so much more than me. It’s about protecting our freedoms to make decisions about our own body, earn a good living off of one job, and retire with dignity. It’s about safeguarding our education, bringing good-paying jobs to Florida, and making sure our communities are safe from gun violence,” Mucarsel-Powell said. “This campaign is about who we really are here in Florida, and our fight is just getting started.

“My mother brought me to this country for the freedom and opportunities that our democracy provides. But extremist politicians like Rick Scott are robbing us of these very freedoms and opportunities. Rick Scott tried to end Social Security and Medicare as we know them, supports a national ban on abortion, and wants to raise taxes on the middle class. Let me be clear — I am running to represent every single Floridian in this state. This goes beyond Republicans vs. Democrats – we’re all done with extremists who don’t have our backs, we all deserve better than Rick Scott, and in November, we will win.”

In an interview this week with WPBF25 in West Palm Beach, the first Democrat Latina to run for Florida Senate kept digging in.

“Rick Scott has been in government for 14 years and what did he do? He cut funds for education; he took almost $700 million from water management preservation in a state where we depend on a healthy environment for our economy to thrive,” she said. “In the Senate, he’s done nothing except make a proposal to sunset Social Security and repeal the Affordable Care Act.

“The man doesn’t work for anyone. He works for himself.”

On Wednesday, Mucarsel-Powell celebrated the victory and rallied for labor rights alongside the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) in Miami, which had endorsed her.

“Our labor unions are under attack by extremists like Rick Scott and I say no más. I’ve had enough,” Mucarsel-Powell said. “Labor unions stand up for the workers that Florida depends on, and I am proud to fight with them for fair working conditions and wages.

“In the Senate, I will continue to be a fierce voice for labor unions across Florida,” she said.

She told Political Cortadito on Thursday that she has been talking to Democrats, Republicans and independent voters across the state from the get-go.

“This is a campaign about building a coalition across Florida that brings in everyone, regardless of party affiliation, because everyone is tired of the extremism and the insurance crisis, which started with Rick Scott,” Mucarsel-Powell said.

The incumbent’s campaign came out with a message post primary, highlighting the votes that Mucarsel-Powell did not get — nearly a third voted for the three other guys — and hitting the same old nail with the same old hammer: socialism.

“With over 1 million more registered Republicans than Democrats in Florida, a GOP coalesced around Rick Scott, and a state that rejects socialism, socialist Mucarsel-Powell has an uphill battle heading into November,” reads a statement from Team Scott sent Wednesday.

“Miami-Dade County, Florida’s largest county and a bellwether nationally for the Hispanic vote, is especially a red flag for Mucarsel-Powell heading into November. Senator Scott received over 26,000 more votes than Debbie in her own home county,” the campaign stated. “It also was his best performing county in the state, where he received 90% of the vote.

“While Mucarsel-Powell is on track to lose her home county in the general, Senator Scott won his own home county of Collier in the primary by 83 points, compared to Mucarsel-Powell winning her home county by only half that margin.”

Campaign Spokesman Will Hampson said the team was “fired up” by the primary results, and he used the word “socialist” twice.

In a statement released shortly after the results were known, Scott — who needs to stay in office because he really, really wants to succeed Mitch McConnell as senate majority leader — laid the groundwork for the type of extremist, red-meat campaign he’s going to have, trying to link DMP with “The Squad,” a group of left-leaning congress members.

“The most radical socialist ticket of my lifetime, consisting of Kamala Harris, Tim Walz, and Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, seeks to fundamentally destroy the promise of freedom in America for generations to come,” Scott said, echoing the same scare tactics used by his role model, Donald Trump — border wars, socialist “price controls” and relationships with leaders in Venezuela, China, Iran.

Well, wait. Didn’t Trump say he’s moving to Venezuela when he loses? That it’s the safest country in the world?

Scott and other politicos like him that throw out the words “communist” and “socialist” are insulting the voters who live here who came from countries that are really those things. Some people still buy this crap. Until they talk to her. She needs the Democratic Party’s help to talk to as many people as possible.

Scott, who has self funded nearly half of all his campaigns since 2019, has raised more than twice as much as Mucarsel-Powell-Powell, but she has spent less, too, and had $4.4 million, or about $500,000 more cash in hand, than Scott did by the end of July, according to Open Secrets.

On Thursday, Mucarsel-Powell was set to join Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, another accused “socialist” who had already endorsed DMP before she won re-election with 58%, and a slew of other Democrat candidates in November races. The Florida and national Democratic Party should invest in her campaign because this is definitely a winnable race and it could have reverberations.

Seriously. If the Harris Walz campaign wants to reach Latino voters in all of Florida, they have no better well-spoken, bilingual surrogate than DMP.

Mucarsel-Powell served one term in congressional district 27. She was known as a moderate and had an ability to reach across the aisle, serving on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and the House Judiciary Committee, where she helped pass legislation that expanded background checks for gun owners. She lost to former Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez in 2020.

There was wide speculation that she would run against Sen. Marco Rubio in 2022. Scott makes much more sense. Dems hope that this is one of the seats that will help them reclaim the state.

Recent polls suggest that it’s within reach.

An oft-quoted survey by Florida Atlantic University and Mainstreet Research indicates that Scott has lost significant support, dropping from a 17-point lead in April to just 2 points now, 45 to 43 percent, which is still within the margin of error.

“Mucarsel-Powell was largely unknown in earlier surveys,” said Luzmarina Garcia, assistant professor of political science at FAU, in a statement released by the school. “However, as voters have been introduced to her, she has been gaining in the race. If this trend holds, it could be close in November.”

A poll this month by USA Today, Suffolk University and WSVN-TV shows Scott’s favorability was at 35 percent, whereas 49 percent viewed him unfavorably.

And political observers and pundits expect the referendums on abortion and recreational marijuana to drive out a slew of single-issue voters that could tip the tight scales in DMP’s favor.

Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, Elections 2024, Rick Scott

It was always Debbie Mucarsel-Powell vs Rick Scott in Florida U.S. Senate race added by Ladra on August 22, 2024
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