Debbie Mucarsel-Powell will be the Democrats' candidate to take on Senator Rick Scott in Florida's senate elections in November after winning her primary on Tuesday.
Both candidates easily won their elections, Scott being the incumbent and Mucarsel-Powell having a large fundraising gap over her three rivals. In fact, most polls were already pitting the two against each other before the elections took place.
Mucarsel-Powell, a one-term lawmaker (2019-2021) for Florida's 26th congressional district, was the first South American-born immigrant to become a member of Congress, having born in Ecuador. She had unsuccessfully ran for the state senate in 2016, losing against Republican candidate Anitere Flores before launching her national bid.
After narrowly losing against Republican Carlos Giménez in 2020, Mucarsel-Powell joined former Rep. Gabby Giffords to lobby the U.S. Senate to pass the Bipartisan Background Checks Act, which would ban "firearm transfer between private parties unless a licensed gun dealer, manufacturer, or importer first takes possession of the firearm to conduct a background check."
She is now running against Scott. The only Latina vying for a seat in the Senate, she told The Latin Times she will ran a more moderate, "purple" campaign. If she manages to beat incumbent Rick Scott, she would join the only Latina currently in the Senate, Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada.
But she faces a tough battle. Scott continues to hold a lead in the polls, although the latest one show a shrinking gap. Conducted by Florida Atlantic University and Mainstreet Research USA between August 10 and 11 , it shows Scott with 47% of the support among likely voters, compared to Mucarsel-Powell's 43%. An additional 6% of voters said they are still undecided, a group that could prove to be crucial come November.
The figure compares to the last poll tracked by FiveThirtyEight. Conducted in August by McLaughlin & Associates among 800 likely voters, it had Scott with a 10-point advantage.
Speaking to The Latin Times, Mucarsel-Powell outlined some of his proposals heading into November. One of them includes lowering property insurance rates by 25% and expanding Child Tax Credit, making sure "that we bring good paying jobs to the state of Florida."
"We have seen higher costs for goods and services in Florida, much more than in other states. And so there's a lot that we can do, but we need to start by electing leaders that are going to put the well being of our families above politics, about self enrichment, self gain, which is what Rick Scott has been doing," she said.
As for abortion, an issue that will be on the ballot in November, she said she thinks "the majority of Floridians support the amendment." "They support a woman making this decision in the privacy of her doctor's office with her family and her faith, and it should be free of government interference, and no one, especially Rick Scott, should have any say in that decision that a woman makes."
Mucarsel-Powell said she is optimistic about her chances despite trailing in the polls. "We've been building a grassroots campaign that brings the people into this campaign to give them the power to make these changes. Here in the state of Florida, this race is so much bigger than me. It's about them. It's about making sure that they participate in the process and they feel empowered to make that change. And that's exactly what we're seeing, and the momentum will continue to build."
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