Two Florida hurricanes haven't put brakes on Scott, Mucarsel-Powell US Senate race

TALLAHASSEE, Florida - The heated campaign barbs between Republican U.S. Sen. Rick Scott and his Democratic challenger, former U.S. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, weren’t cooled by the double blow of hurricanes Helene and Milton.

In fact, the storms provided more campaign fodder as the sides clashed over disaster response efforts of the federal government, as well as climate change and property insurance.

“Another hurricane. More devastation. And Rick Scott is making it worse,” Mucarsel-Powell stated in an ad released Oct. 2, six days after Helene made landfall at Dekle Beach in Taylor County. She went on to criticize Scott for receiving $3 million in campaign donations from property insurance companies as premiums skyrocketed in recent years.

Scott responded two days later – six days before Milton barreled into Sarasota County – with his own ad blasting Mucarsel-Powell for claiming he “doesn’t care about hurricane victims.”

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

Each candidate has sought to help victims of the disasters.

Scott, in his trademark U.S. Navy hat familiar from his days overseeing recovery efforts as Governor, viewed the devastation, met with local officials and pressed President Joe Biden to issue a disaster declaration to release FEMA money.

He later met with Biden when 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 ahead of Milton. She also toured damage in Palm Beach County from one of the tornados spawned by Milton.

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

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

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

A memo from Mucarsel-Powell campaign manager Ben Waldon issued publicly Tuesday claims Scott is vulnerable, with high unfavorability ratings, and Mucarsel-Powell is winning over independent voters.

Meanwhile, the campaign is getting help from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, with a multi-million dollar boost.

"Rick Scott’s high unfavorability numbers and Debbie Mucarsel-Powell’s unique strength as a candidate have quickly made the Florida Senate race the best, fastest moving opportunity for Democrats to pick up a Senate seat," Waldon states in the memo.

Still, with three weeks to go until Election Day, her campaign is running out of time to make up the ground. It's likely to have fewer resources to get her message to voters.

Previous coverage: Election 2024: Rick Scott, Debbie Mucarsel-Powell square off over US Senate seat

Waldon’s memo acknowledged that what previously would have been a $200 million spend in Florida by the Democratic Party “has shrunk potentially tenfold.”

Scott's campaign rebuffed Waldon's assertion that Mucarsel-Powell has momentum in a tight race heading into the final weeks.

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

"Our campaign has taken this race seriously from the beginning. We’re in a strong position and keeping our feet on the gas through the end. National Democrats can flirt with spending in Florida on a socialist loser if they want and risk losing incumbent races across the country. We’ll have a big win either way.”

Scott, who has an expansive nine-figure net worth, has consistently put his own money behind his campaigns in his political career, mounting an ad blitz in the final days and winning by a narrow margins in both of his campaigns for governor and his first U.S. Senate run in 2018.

And one other avenue for Mucarsel-Powell to get her message out is likely gone. No debate between the candidates has been agreed upon – despite Mucarsel-Powell’s urging Scott to take up the challenge.

Both candidates were back on the campaign trail in the days following the storm, as Mucarsel-Powell held an event Monday in The Villages, traditionally a conservative bulwark in central Florida, and Scott was joined by Vivek Ramaswamy, a former GOP presidential candidate, for a rally in Jupiter on Sunday.

They’re also back on the airwaves.

Scott’s campaign is putting $10 million behind the “Leadership” ad featuring the sheriffs, and hitting Spanish-language radio with a 60-second spot called “Socialism has a name,” referring to his opponent.

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

Mucarsel-Powell’s campaign revealed a 30-second ad likening Scott to a snake, and hitting him for Medicare fraud at the hospital company he ran in the 1990s, releasing a plan to sunset federal programs like Social Security (which Scott later retracted), and wanting to “ban abortion.”

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

Those ads, however, won’t be able to sway the more than 709,000 voters who have already cast a mail ballot.

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.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Florida's Senate race not slowed by Helene, Milton storms