Democratic ex-U.S. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell announces 2024 challenge to Rick Scott

Former U.S. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell jumped into the U.S. Senate race in Florida on Tuesday, becoming the highest-profile Democrat yet to challenge Republican U.S. Sen. Rick Scott for his seat.

Mucarsel-Powell’s announcement came after months of discussions with top Senate Democrats and Democratic-aligned groups, who sought to coax Mucarsel-Powell into the race, arguing that her past experience running in a South Florida battleground district and her fundraising track record would make her an automatic top-tier challenger to Scott.

Mucarsel-Powell, who was born in Ecuador and moved to the U.S. as a teenager, flipped control of a key South Florida U.S. House seat in 2018 when she defeated Republican U.S. Rep. Carlos Curbelo. She lost reelection two years later to then-Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez, and afterward took a job as a senior adviser for the anti-gun violence group Giffords.

In her kick-off announcement on Tuesday, Mucarsel-Powell made clear that she would lean on her immigrant roots and prior congressional experience on the campaign trail. She also homed in on a series of issues, like abortion rights and the ballooning cost of property insurance in Florida, that Democrats are hoping to use in 2024 to trip up Republicans.

“I’m an immigrant, a Latina, a mother and we made history together when I became the first South American immigrant ever elected to Congress,” she said in a video posted online on Tuesday morning. “I’ve already fought guys like Rick Scott and beat them.”

She also signaled a focus on gun violence, pointing to her work with Giffords and the death of her father, who was shot and killed at his home in Ecuador when Mucarsel-Powell was 24.

Before she can train her full focus on Scott, she’ll likely have to make it first through a Democratic primary. If she emerges from that race, taking on Scott won’t be easy.

The former two-term governor is a multimillionaire and has shown a willingness to pour his personal fortune into his political campaigns. He and his allies are also quick to note that he’s never lost a bid for public office.

Despite winning his 2018 Senate bid over then-Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson by just a fraction of a percentage point — or about 10,000 votes — Scott also has the political headwinds blowing in his favor. Florida has lurched to the right in recent years, delivering Republicans key victories, even in once-Democratic-leaning areas.

In 2022, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio carried both Miami-Dade and Palm Beach Counties, where Democrats often look to bank large amounts of votes. That same year, Republicans won supermajorities in both chambers of the state legislature and took control of every statewide elected office.

The GOP has also managed to score a significant voter registration edge in Florida in recent years. As of June 30, registered Republican voters in the state outnumbered Democrats by more than 500,000, according to data from the Florida Division of Elections.

In an interview with the Miami Herald on Monday ahead of her campaign launch, Mucarsel-Powell acknowledged Democrats’ recent struggles in South Florida, but said that she has “been feeling a change” in the state over the past several months and believes that Democrats have an opening in Florida in 2024.

She blamed other factors, as well, for Democrats’ recent troubles in Florida: gerrymandering by Republicans, alleged voter suppression tactics and poor Democratic turnout in the 2022 midterm elections.

“If we can work closely together and build the infrastructure that is needed, I am very, very much positive and I am very optimistic that we can make the changes we need,” she said.

Mucarsel-Powell isn’t the only Democrat running to take on Scott next year. Navy veteran Phil Ehr, who ran an unsuccessful campaign to oust Republican U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz in 2020, entered the Senate race in July, while former U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson has filed paperwork to run.

Ehr welcomed Mucarsel-Powell into the race on Tuesday, but noted that he doesn’t have any plans to clear the way for the former congresswoman to take the Democratic nomination.

“This important choice is going to be made by Floridians, not Washington insiders, and I’m confident that they will recognize that I’ve been on the front lines fighting for democracy and working to hold corrupt MAGA politicians like Rick Scott accountable,” Ehr said.

Florida state House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell, who had been weighing a campaign for Senate, announced on Monday that she would not challenge Scott in 2024, attributing her decision to unfinished business in Tallahassee.

Brevard County School Board member Jennifer Jenkins has also said that she’s considering a run for Senate, though she hasn’t made a formal announcement about her plans.

Democrats say there’s at least some reason to be optimistic about their chances in Florida in 2024. For one, Scott has never run for office in a presidential election year, when Democratic turnout tends to be somewhat higher and down-ballot candidates’ prospects are often tied to those of their party’s White House hopefuls.

He has also faced criticism for a 12-point policy plan he released last year that included a proposal to sunset all federal programs, including Medicare and Social Security. He later reversed course, carving out exemptions for those programs.

Scott’s campaign dismissed Mucarsel-Powell’s announcement on Tuesday, calling her a “failed congressional candidate” who had aligned herself with former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi during her time in Washington.

“Former Congresswoman Mucarsel-Powell is a radical socialist who voted 100% of the time with Nancy Pelosi during her short tenure in Congress, which is why the voters of South Florida booted her out of office the first chance they got,” Priscilla Ivasco, the communications director for Scott’s campaign, said. “Floridians already rejected her once and they will reject her again.”

Mucarsel-Powell and other Florida Democrats said that they’ve received assurances from national Democrats that the party still sees Florida as a competitive battleground, despite its rocky recent track record.

“Florida’s a bright purple state,” Mucarsel-Powell told the Herald. “There’s so much more that unites us than divides us.”

This article has been updated to reflect the correct spelling of Rick Scott Communications Director Priscilla Ivasco’s name.