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    • The Senate race between Scott and Mucarsel and Powell will not be slowed by the storms of Helene and Milton
    Iowa

    The Senate race between Scott and Mucarsel and Powell will not be slowed by the storms of Helene and Milton

    Eira Gwyneth Posted on

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    The heated campaign disputes between Republican U.S. Sen. Rick Scott and his Democratic challenger, former U.S. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, were not dampened by the one-two punch of hurricanes Helene and Milton.

    In fact, the storms provided even more campaign material as the sides argued over the federal government’s disaster response efforts as well as climate change and property insurance.

    “Another hurricane. More devastation. And Rick Scott makes it worse,” Mucarsel-Powell said in an ad released Oct. 2, six days after Helene landed on Dekle Beach in Taylor County. She further criticized Scott for receiving $3 million in campaign contributions from property insurance companies as premiums have skyrocketed in recent years.

    Scott responded two days later – six days before Milton stormed into Sarasota County – with an ad of his own denigrating Mucarsel-Powell, claiming he “didn’t care about the hurricane’s victims.”

    “Congresswoman Powell – just one term and the voters threw her out. Why? She votes like a socialist,” the ad says, before showing a series of Florida sheriffs praising Scott for his hurricane response when he was governor in 2011-2019.

    Each candidate tried to help the victims of the disasters.

    Scott, wearing his signature U.S. Navy hat familiar from his time as governor overseeing the recovery effort, surveyed the devastation, met with local officials and urged President Joe Biden to issue a disaster declaration to help FEMA -release funds.

    He later met with Biden as the president toured damage in Taylor County following Helene and also in St. Pete Beach to view Milton’s destruction.

    Mucarsel-Powell helped clear beaches in Pinellas after Helene and helped fill sandbags for residents before Milton. She also toured the damage in Palm Beach County caused by one of the tornadoes caused by Milton.

    Current polls show Mucarsel-Powell trailing Scott but within striking distance.

    A Marist poll released Oct. 10 shows 50% of likely voters support Scott, while 48% support Mucarsel-Powell, who has touted the results to call for a tightening of the race.

    But an Associated Industries of Florida poll released Oct. 2 showed Scott outperforming her 51%-44%, with 5% undecided.

    A memo released Tuesday from Mucarsel-Powell’s campaign manager, Ben Waldon, said Scott was vulnerable, with high dislike ratings, and Mucarsel-Powell was winning over independent voters.

    Meanwhile, the campaign is receiving support from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee with a multimillion-dollar boost.

    “Rick Scott’s high dissatisfaction numbers and Debbie Mucarsel-Powell’s unique strength as a candidate have quickly made the Florida Senate race the best and fastest opportunity for Democrats to win a Senate seat,” Waldon’s memo said.

    Nevertheless, three weeks before election day, her campaign is running out of time to make up ground. She will likely have fewer resources to get her message across to voters.

    Waldon’s memo confirmed that Florida Democratic Party spending, which previously would have been $200 million, “has potentially shrunk 10-fold.”

    Scott’s campaign refuted Waldon’s claim that Mucarsel-Powell had momentum in a close race heading into final weeks.

    “Debbie is desperately trying to beg for money from the national Democrats who know she will lose. “She’s used all her money and hasn’t moved the needle, she’s still losing,” Scott spokesman Will Hampson said in an email.

    “Our campaign has taken this race seriously from the start. We are in a strong position and will keep going until the end. National Democrats can flirt with spending money on a socialist loser in Florida if they want, risking losing incumbent races. “Across the country, we’re going to win big either way.”

    Scott, who has a significant net worth in the nine-figure range, has consistently poured his own money into his campaigns throughout his political career, launching an advertising campaign in recent days and appearing in both his two campaigns for governor and his first narrowly won his bid for the U.S. Senate in 2018.

    And another opportunity for Mucarsel-Powell to get her message out is probably gone. No debate was arranged between the candidates – although Mucarsel-Powell urged Scott to accept the challenge.

    Both candidates were back on the campaign trail in the days after the storm, with Mucarsel-Powell holding an event Monday in The Villages, a traditionally conservative bastion, and Scott attending a rally alongside Vivek Ramaswamy, a former Republican Party presidential candidate in Jupiter on Sunday.

    They’re back on the air too.

    Scott’s campaign is pouring $10 million into “Leadership” advertising with the sheriffs and is running a 60-second spot on Spanish-language radio called “Socialism Has a Name,” referring to his opponent.

    Mucarsel-Powell, who emigrated to the United States from Ecuador, has denounced socialist and communist regimes in Venezuela and Cuba.

    Mucarsel-Powell’s campaign unveiled a 30-second ad that compared Scott to a snake and accused him of Medicare fraud at the hospital company he ran in the 1990s. It also released a plan to end federal programs like Social Security (which Scott later withdrew) and want to “ban abortion.”

    Scott signed many anti-abortion rights bills as Florida governor, but said he preferred Florida’s previous ban on abortion after 15 weeks instead of the six-week ban now in effect.

    However, these ads will not be able to convince the more than 709,000 voters who have already cast their absentee ballots.

    Previous reporting: Election 2024: Rick Scott and Debbie Mucarsel-Powell are fighting for the US Senate seat

    Gray Rohrer is a reporter with the USA TODAY Network-Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on X: @GrayRohrer.

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    Eira Gwyneth
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