Reelected Rick Scott eyes majority leader race as Republicans take control of Senate

Incumbent Florida U.S. Sen. Rick Scott was reelected Tuesday, defeating former Democratic U.S. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell in an election that ended up not being as close as the latest polls had been suggesting.

Scott won with 55% of the vote, surpassing the 42% obtained by Mucarsel-Powell, according to data available at 8:15 p.m. on the Florida Division of Elections’ website.

Celebrating his victory in Bonita Springs, Scott praised the coalition that helped him win his reelection while announcing that he plans to compete for the leadership of the Republican Party in the Senate.

“Together we get to celebrate a greater victory tonight… but our work is not done. Next week we have another election, Senate Republican leader,” he said in a room filled with cheering supporters. “Two years ago, I challenged Mitch McConnell because I know there has to be a change. We have a great Republican Party all across this country and we need a Republican Party in D.C. to start solving the problems of this country.”

Appearing in front of her own supporters in Miami, Mucarsel-Powell admitted her bid to reach the Senate was not successful, but warned the state has not seen the last of her. “If you think that this Latina right here is giving up on Florida, then I don’t think you have been paying attention,” she said.

The election’s end result was not as close as predicted by the latest polls, which had been suggesting that the difference between the candidates had shortened to about four percentage points, or about half the nine-point lead Scott had in early June.

The race, which Democrats believed could help them keep their razor thin majority in the U.S. Senate, had focused for the most part on the thorny issues of abortion, the economy, climate change and on whether the Democratic candidate was a closet socialist, as Republicans charged.

While Scott attempted to run a clean campaign in the beginning, talking about values and his concern about the state’s welfare, the race also turned negative during the last months, with both camps inundating the airways with negative TV and radio ads disparaging the other candidate.

With the impact on the state of the current hurricane season, Mucarsel-Powell often accused Scott of siding with the insurance companies when he served as governor and at times accused him of financially benefiting from Medicare fraud.

In one ad repeatedly shown on television, Scott was depicted as a boa constrictor. “Florida’s biggest snake is not in the Everglades. He is in the Senate,” the ad declares. “He stole money from seniors in the biggest Medicare fraud ever.”

Mucarsell-Powell, meanwhile, was often portrayed as a full-fledged socialist who wants to give illegal immigrants a tax break while seeking to increase taxes for working families. “You pay your taxes; she wants to give your money to people here illegally,” one of the ads claims. “Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, a silly socialist, wrong for the Senate.”

From the beginning, Mucarsel-Powell’s faced long odds of unseating an incumbent senator.

Scott won his Senate seat in 2018, after defeating then incumbent Democrat Sen. Bill Nelson, who held the post since 2001. But despite Nelson’s long tenure in the Senate, Florida had been leaning towards the Republican Party in recent years, leading analysts to predict that Scott had the upper hand in the race.

Also, Mucarsel-Powell’s resume looked relatively thin compared to Scott’s, who served eight years as Florida’s governor before taking his Senate seat. The Democratic candidate had only served one term in Congress before losing her reelection bid in 2020.

The Ecuador-born politician’s lack of experience was repeatedly hammered in Scott ads. Yet, Mucarsel-Powell seemed hopeful of her chances.

In an interview she gave in August, Mucarsel-Powell fended off claims that her candidacy was a far-fetched dream.

“It is absolutely not a dream. This is something that is possible,” she told Spanish news service EFE..

This story was originally published November 5, 2024 at 8:33 PM.