In the News
ICYMI: ‘Rick Scott is Running Scared, and He Should Be’ [South Florida Sun Sentinel, Opinion]
“By Refusing to Debate, Scott is Thumbing His Nose at Voters and Racing Away from His Own Record”
In a scathing new column in the South Florida Sun Sentinel, Rick Scott is called out for refusing to debate his Democratic opponent, Debbie Mucarsel-Powell. Scott is “running scared” because he can’t defend his toxic agenda: banning abortion, ending Social Security and Medicare as we know them, and raising taxes on the middle class.
Click here to read the full story. See key excerpts below:
- See Rick Scott. See Rick run. See Rick run scared.
- No politician in Florida history has had a longer run of good luck than Scott, and few have been as consistently unpopular as the Republican senator. An August poll put his popularity at an atrocious 35%, with 49% viewing him unfavorably.
- It’s obvious that Scott is running scared because he refuses to debate his opponent.
- Mucarsel-Powell has agreed to three statewide TV debates on WPBF, Channel 25 in West Palm Beach; WFLA, Channel 8 in Tampa; and WJXT, Channel 4 in Jacksonville. Scott hasn’t — and time is running out.
- Reporters keep pressing Scott on why he won’t debate, and he keeps dodging the question.
- “We’ll see what happens,” Scott told CNN’s Manu Raju, right after Scott said Donald Trump should do “as many debates as possible” with Kamala Harris.
- A live TV debate in October would force Scott to face Floridians and explain why he proposed something as hopelessly out of touch as “sunsetting” Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid, which would force an unreliable Congress to renew them every five years in a state where older voters are a critical bloc.
- So Scott’s “12-point plan to Rescue America” became an 11-point plan. He backed away from that outlandish idea (except for Medicaid) amid overwhelming criticism from fellow Republicans such as Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
- As a senator, he has a glowing 94% lifetime score with Heritage Action for America — the folks who brought us the Project 2025 plan.
- He has said that if he were still governor, he would sign an extreme six-week abortion ban like the one Gov. Ron DeSantis signed last year. He later modified his position in support of a 15-week abortion ban, with exceptions for rape and incest.
- In June, Scott said he supported in vitro fertilization, a day after he voted against a bill protecting it because it had “other things” in it. WPLG in Miami called the zig-zag “whiplash-inducing.”
- “Rick Scott has an obligation to appear on the debate stage and explain to Floridians why he deserves to be re-elected,” Mucarsel-Powell said in a statement. “Floridians deserve leaders who respect them enough to show up, and while Rick Scott keeps running from his constituents, we will show up in November to retire him once and for all.”
- Six years ago, when Scott was the challenger, he taunted Bill Nelson on Twitter for his reluctance to debate, with a “debate dodger calendar” (They eventually debated.)
- But now, it’s a very different story. By refusing to debate, Scott is thumbing his nose at voters and racing away from his own record. That’s Rick Scott in 2024 — running scared.