Should Florida Re-Elect Crypt-Keeper Rick Scott, Or Elect This Nice Democrat Lady Who Isn't That?
Let's better know Debbie Mucarsel-Powell.
CNN rang in the new year with a detailed list of the 10 Senate seats most likely to flip in the November election, and eight of them are incumbent Democrats. That’s a democracy-threatening bummer, but Republican Senators Ted Cruz in Texas and Rick Scott in Florida are the two bright sides.
We made fun of Cruz on Wednesday, so let’s move on to Scott, the guy who looks like one of the Gentlemen from that silent “Buffy” episode. He’s dreadful and has skated into office repeatedly on the narrowest margins. Back in 2018, he beat Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson by just 50.1 percent to 49.9 percent. That was a slight improvement from his gubernatorial victories, neither of which cracked 50 percent. As Vanity Fair observes, Scott is one of the least popular politicians among voters in Florida, a state that includes Marco Rubio and Ron DeSantis.
Still, he does have an annoying habit of actually winning that we hope Democratic former Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell can finally end. She entered the House in the 2018 Blue Wave but lost her re-election race to Republican Carlos Giménez. Nonetheless, she’s generated the most attention in the Democratic Senate primary. She’s already raised a solid amount of money, which she’ll need against the exceptionally wealthy Scott.
According to her personally written fundraising emails, Mucarsel-Powell is polling in a dead heat with Scott. I doubt she’d mislead me, but I did double check her numbers. Recent polling shows Scott underwater with Florida voters — a reasonable response considering he spent most of 2022 telling everyone who’d listen all the horrible things Republicans would do if they won the Senate. He was specifically excited about raising taxes on poor people. Hurting the vulnerable is a popular Republican pastime, but Scott’s policies were so toxic that his colleagues had to distance themselves from him — and he was the head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee!
When asked about Scott’s mad dream to sunset Medicare and Social Security, Mitch McConnell responded brusquely, “That’s not a Republican plan. That was the Rick Scott plan.” Again, Scott was chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, but McConnell dismissed him as a “single senator” who wasn’t in an “authoritative position to state what the position of the party is.”
“It’s just a bad idea,” McConnell added. “I think it will be a challenge for him [Scott] to deal with this in his own re-election in Florida, a state with more elderly people than any other state in America.”
That might explain why Scott has a 49 percent unfavorable rating in Florida, and just 39 percent of Florida voters have a positive opinion of the ghoul.
Moreover, the antipathy for the incumbent remains more intense. About 30% of voters said they had a “very unfavorable” view of Scott, while only 13% said they have a “very favorable” opinion.
His standing proved weak with independent voters, with 47% voicing dissatisfaction with Scott compared to 37% who like him.
The Ecuadorian-born Mucarsel-Powell is an unknown quantity to almost half — 48 percent — of Florida voters. Only 22 percent of voters have a favorable view of Mucarsel-Powell, and 30 percent view her negatively. However, only 12 percent of voters are unaware of Scott, so there’s more room for Mucarsel-Powell to grow.
Florida-based Democratic strategist Steve Schale does believe that Scott is “an underrated political figure who is often “discounted because of his personality” but has “proven that he’s got the discipline to stay on message.” Of course, that message is terrible and is why his numbers suck.
Check out this recent interview with Mucarsel-Powell. The Senate would improve with her presence.
[Florida Politics / CNN]
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1. I am currently juuuust above the federal poverty line, but I certainly don't have much. Therefore, I want her to win, so we can have someone to help the poor, and not hurt them.
2. I will check out her campaign and make a small donation. Maybe even volunteer.
Thanks.
I skimmed that CNN piece. Not one mention of Missouri, which invalidates that whole piece for me. Lucas Kunce has a good shot to unseat Josh Hawley. He's a 13 year Marine veteran (and a reservist) with Iraq and Afghanistan tours under his belt. He came from a family of modest means, went into the service after college, and if you have seen him speak, you get the impression he actually cares about the people of MO.
Josh Hawley is ripe for the picking, if you can campaign effectively against him i.e. attack his manhood. That may not be the way Democrats and liberals like to play it but it worked in PA, I believe, because Fetterman comes off as "not that kind of Democrat" (and Oz was a terrible choice but that never stops the GOP). Hawley beat Claire McCaskill in 2018 and this is a presidential election year so hopefully the turnout will be what it needs to be.
I've had people on here not exude the kind of hope I have about this one but I'd rather be hopeful. I can't spend all year in angst over something I don't know the outcome of yet.