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Latin Times
Latin Times
Politics
Maria Villarroel

Florida's Debbie Mucarsel-Powell launches campaign push as poll shows her trailing Rick Scott

The Democratic challenger launches a "75 Stop Tour" to push her bid to flip Florida's Senate seat, as polls show her trailing behind Scott (Credit: Getty Images)

Democratic Rep. Debbie Mucarsel Powell is launching a "75 Stop Tour" across Florida as she pushes to unseat incumbent Sen. Rick Scott in Congress' upper chamber ahead of November.

The first stop of the tour was at the Villain Theater in Miami, Florida, where she made the case to South Floridians as to why she should overtake the Republican household name. She also announced that the name of the tour derives from "every single time that Rick Scott took the fifth when he was being investigated for committing fraud."

"It is 75 times that Rick Scott showed this country what a lack of moral character he has, 75 times that he showed America what political corruption looks like, and 75 times that he shows that he will do absolutely anything to get back to power so that he can continue to enrich himself from government," she said to her supporters.

Mucarsel-Powell also argued that her opponent sought to repeal Obamacare, and make cuts to social security and Medicare, as well as continue restricting reproductive rights, issues that the Democratic challenger has been highlighting throughout her campaign this year.

"That will stop in November because we are going to protect our care. We are going to protect our benefits. We are going to work on bringing companies that will invest in our state that will create good paying jobs like solar panels. We are the Sunshine state," Mucarsel-Powell said.

Mucarsel-Powell's stop in Miami comes as she continues to poll neck-in-neck with Scott, with the Republican challenger holding a narrow lead in the county.

A survey this month of Miami-Dade voters found Scott holds a 1-point edge over his challenger, which is within the poll's 4.5-point margin of error, according to Florida Politics.

Scott also holds stronger support within his own party, with 91% of support. By comparison, 85% of support from Democrats for Mucarsel-Powell.

These numbers are also reflected across the state. The Democrat challenger is trailing behind Scott by three percentage points, at 48% to 45%, with 7% of voters remaining undecided, according to Florida Politics.

Should Mucarsel-Powell get the bulk of undecided voters, she may be able to flip the seat from the wealthiest man in the Senate, who has self-funded his campaigns in 2010 and 2018, the first times he ran for Governor and Senate, respectively.

However, the former Representative remains a relatively-unknown candidate in the Sunshine State, with voters saying they are not seeing her ads, which were on television leading up to the uncompetitive Democratic Primary last week.

In fact, only 18% of voters say they have spotted her commercials, with 71% saying no and 12% unsure, Florida Politics reports.

Scott remains confident in his ability to continue holding his seat, being skeptical about the polling that shows a small margin of difference between the two candidates.

"We're going to have a big win. If you look at all my races, the polls have generally been way off," Scott said in Jacksonville. "In all three of my races, polls said I was going to lose... because they're not accurate."

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