Republican U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, and U.S. Rep. Laurel Lee in St. Pete Beach on May 27, 2024. (Photo by Mitch Perry/Florida Phoenix)
In the race for U.S. Senate, Republican incumbent Rick Scott has won his most decisive victory since entering state politics 14 years ago, defeating Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell by 13 points, 56%-43%.
Florida Democrats had thought that Scott might be more vulnerable this election cycle than in any of his previous runs for public office in Florida. That’s because he had never run in a presidential election year, which historically brings out more Democratic voters.
However, unlike in his narrow one-point victories for governor in 2010 and 2014 and for Senate in 2018, he had the benefit of running for the first time when Republicans led Democrats in party registration in the state — by more than 1 million.
Mucarsel-Powell, a former one-term member of Congress (2019-2021) representing parts of Miami-Dade and Monroe counties, became the Democratic Party establishment choice early on in the primary race, but not every member of the coalition supported her. The Florida AFL-CIO backed Stanley Campbell, her top opponent in the primary, which she ultimately won easily in August.
Scott never granted Mucarsel-Powell the opportunity to engage him in a statewide televised debate, becoming the first incumbent Florida U.S. senator not to do since Connie Mack in 1994.
Scott hammered Mucarsel-Powell throughout the campaign as being a “socialist.”
Mucarsel-Powell went after Scott on a number of fronts, such as reproductive rights and property insurance, which she said Scott failed to handle properly when he served as governor.
Florida Democrats were hoping that she would get financial help from outside aligned groups, such as the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, but with the exception of one ad, the DSCC was more preoccupied with other races, such as Jon Tester’s fight for re-election in Montana and Colin Allred’s attempt to upset Ted Cruz in Texas.