Florida US Senate Race: Rick Scott vs. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell

A look at major points of their campaign platforms – and past voting records – shows stark differences between the Republican and Democratic contenders.

The US Senate race in Florida between incumbent Republican Sen. Rick Scott and Democratic challenger Debbie Mucarsel-Powell – one of Florida’s most closely watched contests in the 2024 election – is more than “just” a local race. 

Its outcome could significantly influence the balance of power in the US Senate. Democrats currently hold a slim 51-49 seat majority. A Mucarsel-Powell win could help keep that slight advantage for Democrats; a Scott win would likely tilt the balance in favor of the GOP.

As it stands right now, the race promises to be a close nail-biter. In polling of 860 likely voters conducted by Emerson College between Oct. 18 and Oct. 20, Scott leads Mucarsel-Powell 48% to 44%, with 8% of voters still undecided.

So, as the Nov. 5 election approaches, the importance of those undecided voters becomes clear. 

What does each candidate offer? A look at major points of their campaign platforms – and past voting records – shows that the differences between the two contenders are stark.

Debbie Mucarsel-Powell 

The former US representative for Florida’s 26th congressional district from 2019 to 2021 immigrated from Ecuador to the US as a 14-year-old.

Mucarsel-Powell’s platform focuses on reducing the cost of living, protecting Social Security and Medicare, and addressing climate change and water quality. She has also been a defender of women’s reproductive rights. She:

• Supports Amendment 4 on the November ballot, which would override the state’s six-week ban and prevent the state from restricting abortion before viability (usually around 24 weeks of pregnancy), or when needed to protect the life of a patient after that.
• Is in favor of expanding Medicaid to support reproductive health care.
• Wants to lower food prices by fighting against the corporate consolidation of big grocery chains that drive up prices, and backs legislation like the Robinson-Patman Act to promote fair competition in the food industry. 
• Promises to crack down on Big Oil price gouging through the Gas Price Gouging Prevention Act to keep prices low at the gas pump. 
• Will work to pass the Lower Drug Costs for Families Act to stop drug companies from raising prices faster than inflation.
• Wants to establish funding to help Florida build the climate-resilient infrastructure needed to fight climate change that is impacting Floridians, their lives, and their property. 
• Supports proposals to cut the cost of property insurance by 25%.
• Is a strong advocate for common-sense gun safety laws.
• Worked to obtain $100 million in funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and $200 million for restoration of the Everglades after Hrricane Irma in 2017. She also focused on helping coastal communities adapt and restoring coral reefs.

To learn more about Mucarsel-Powell’s platform, visit HERE.

RELATED: 10 things to know about Senator Rick Scott

Rick Scott

As he seeks a second term after first being elected to the US Senate in 2018, Scott – who before that served two terms as Florida’s governor – offers a continuation of conservative, free-market policies. Scott:

• Supports Florida’s current 6-week abortion ban, which he has called a ruse or a gimmick to mobilize women voters in the state. “I think that was probably the intention of doing the abortion amendment, is to try to get women out to vote and vote against Republicans,” Scott said in an audio obtained by Jezebel, a website featuring news and cultural commentary geared towards women. 
• Proposed a plan in 2022 calling for every American to pay income tax, even those who were exempt because they earn too little or qualify for a variety of reasons. The Tax Policy Center estimates that achieving Scott’s goal could increase federal income taxes, with more than 80% of the tax increase paid by households making about $54,000 or less, and 97% by those making less than about $100,000. 
• Called for closing the Department of Education in his 2022 plan. He also called for defunding a college or university that uses affirmative action in admissions; denying unemployment benefits or welfare until immigrants have lived in the country for seven years; and banning tax dollars to be used for “diversity training or other woke indoctrination that is hostile to faith.”
• Proposed a plan that could have ended Social Security and Medicare by promising to sunset all federal programs in five years. The programs would have required re-authorization, creating an opportunity for them to be cut or ended forever. After pushback from Democrats, Scott later added an exemption for Medicare and Social Security to his plan. 
• Promises to ” oppose every attempt to deny our 2nd Amendment freedoms and defend our gun rights always, at all costs.”
• Voted against both of the Biden administration’s signature climate change initiatives, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021, which will lower energy use in Florida and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, with its billions for renewable energy, including solar panels and wind turbines.

To learn more about Scott’s platform, visit HERE.

RELATED: What to know about Debbie Mucarsel-Powell’s plans if she’s elected to the Senate