By Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida
TALLAHASSEE — Former U.S. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell cruised to victory Tuesday in a Democratic U.S. Senate primary, setting the stage for what could be an uphill battle to oust incumbent Republican Rick Scott in November.
The Senate race has drawn national attention as Democrats’ exuberance around Vice President Kamala Harris’ White House bid continues to swell.
Scott, a former Florida governor who was elected to the Senate in 2018, handily defeated two little-known primary opponents Tuesday. Scott captured about 84 percent of the vote in the race against Keith Gross and John S. Columbus.
Democratic leaders viewed Mucarsel-Powell — who earned dozens of endorsements from local, state and national party figures — as their best shot at toppling Scott in a state where Republicans hold a million-voter registration advantage over Democrats.
Mucarsel-Powell served one term in Congress before she was defeated in 2020 by former Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Giménez.
The former congresswoman from Miami-Dade County has made the issue of abortion a central plank of her campaign, and the November ballot also will include a proposal aimed at enshrining abortion rights in the state Constitution. The Republican-controlled Legislature and Gov. Ron DeSantis last year approved a law restricting abortion after six weeks of pregnancy. The law went into effect in May.
Mucarsel-Powell, who was born in Ecuador and emigrated to the U.S. as a child, is among the Democrats trying to harness opposition to abortion restrictions and use it to help win in the fall.
National Democrats hailed Mucarsel-Powell’s primary victory Tuesday evening, saying “she has spent her life fighting to expand opportunity for every family in her state.”
“Debbie has fought for the values all Floridians care about, and in the Senate, she will protect Medicare and Social Security, stand strong against threats to reproductive freedom, and tackle rising costs head on,” U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, a Michigan Democrat who is chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said in a prepared statement.
Scott portrayed Mucarsel-Powell as a “radical socialist,” a label that contributed to her defeat in Miami-Dade County four years ago.
“The most radical socialist ticket of my lifetime, consisting of Kamala Harris, Tim Walz, and Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, seeks to fundamentally destroy the promise of freedom in America for generations to come,” Scott said in a statement.
The state Division of Elections website Tuesday night showed Mucarsel-Powell with 68.5 percent of the vote in a four-way primary. Navy veteran and businessman Stanley Campbell drew 19.5 percent, while Brian Rush, a former state representative, and Rod Joseph, an Army vet and businessman, each received support from fewer than 7 percent of primary voters.
Apart from the top-of-the-ticket Senate race, other federal primaries also closed out with few surprises.
Democrat Whitney Fox emerged the victor in a crowded Pinellas County primary and will try to unseat Republican U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna in November. Fox, who was seen as the frontrunner, picked up about 58 percent of the vote in a five-way contest against Sabrina Bousbar, Liz Dahan, John William Liccione and Mark Weinkrantz. Bousbar came in second, bringing in about 17 percent of the vote.
Democrats view the District 13 seat held by Luna, who was first elected in 2022 and has the backing of former President Donald Trump, as what could be one of the state’s most-competitive congressional districts. According to the latest book-closing report before Tuesday’s election, the Pinellas County district had about 205,000 registered Republicans, 151,000 Democrats, and 136,000 voters with no party affiliation.
“Anna Paulina Luna’s extreme agenda puts partisan politics over people and threatens to take away our freedoms. Luna tells struggling families to ‘just move’ if they don’t like her cruel policies. Well, I say it’s time to move Luna out of office!” Fox said in a statement released by her campaign Tuesday night.
On the Space Coast, Mike Haridopolos, a former Florida Senate president, crushed two other Republicans in a contest to fill a seat that became open when U.S. Rep. Bill Posey, R-Fla., announced he would retire. Haridopolos on Tuesday garnered about 72 percent of the vote in Republican-leaning District 8, which includes Brevard, Indian River and part of Orange counties. Haridopolos will face Democrat Sandy Kennedy in November.
Elsewhere, incumbents did not face any upsets in Tuesday’s primary elections.
U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, a firebrand Republican from Northwest Florida seeking a fifth term, swept aside opponent Aaron Dimmock in a race that drew national headlines. Gaetz, a Trump ally, was instrumental in toppling former U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who contributed to Dimmock in a bruising race.
Gaetz received 72.5 percent of the vote in the primary and is expected to top Democrat Gay Valimont in November in the heavily Republican Congressional District 1.
I would be clear I endorsed candidate Murcasel-Powell in the primary, even on my own candidate page, when in a universal primary contest where the result is in doubt because no one believes only 5,928 votes were cast in a universal primary contest when 6,486 votes were cast between the closed primaries in District 3 and when this was a high interest race.
I would point out, my opponent, also a Democrat, endorsed no candidate in the primary, I endorsed Murcasel-Powell because as a Miami based candidate, she knows what freedom means, and when you consider what she said about lack of freedom in Ecuador and why her family came to America struck a chord with me, Miami-Dade County is a county of political exiles and so you think about freedom, and what it means, she knows how important freedom is.