Statements
ICYMI: ‘Busted: How Florida’s Rick Scott is Ramping Up His Inflammatory Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric’ [Raw Story]
Scott is Spreading the Same Racist Conspiracy Theory Cited by Mass Shooters and White Supremacists
New reporting from Raw Story reveals that Rick Scott is sowing doubt in election results by endorsing a racist conspiracy theory that has been cited by mass shooters and white supremacists. In recent months, Scott has repeatedly referenced the “great replacement theory” by baselessly alleging that Democrats are recruiting undocumented immigrants to vote in U.S. elections.
Scott has refused to commit to accepting the results of next month’s election and has a long history of election denialism, including voting to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and making baseless claims of election fraud in his own 2018 election.
Click here to read the full story. See key excerpts below:
- From Florida to Washington, D.C., Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) has expressed a similar refrain at his recent speaking engagements: Democrats are encouraging illegal immigrants to fraudulently vote in elections.
- Spreading fear around immigrants and people of color replacing white Americans, particularly as a means for Democrats to win elections through demographic change, is a tenet of “great replacement theory, a racist ideology that has been cited as motivation of mass killers, as with the racially motivated Buffalo, N.Y., supermarket shooting, and white supremacists, such as those who chanted “Jews will not replace” us at the 2017 “Unite the Right” valley in Charlottesville, Va.
- Scott has been ramping up his election denialism language ahead of next month’s general election as he did in 2018, accusing his opponent of election fraud, and in 2020 when he was one of 147 Republicans who voted to overturn the election results.
- Raw Story compiled six recent examples of times when Scott spread fears about illegal immigrants voting in U.S. elections.
- “The Democrats in charge of Washington, D.C., have presided over massive failures while in office, and they have nothing else to run on, so it is only logical to assume they like the idea of people coming here illegally so they can vote in our elections and help Democrats win,” Scott wrote.
- Scott spoke at a Women’s Republican Club of Naples Federated Luncheon on Sept. 13 where he spread the idea that Democrats are encouraging illegal immigrants to vote. “So, we have a simple bill. But guess what, they’re gonna block it. Because guess what? They’re happy with illegals voting because they think they’re gonna vote for them,” Scott said on Sept. 13 at the luncheon.
- “[Vice President Kamala] Harris, [Senate Majority Leader Chuck] Schumer, Democrats, they intentionally opened the border and allowed people to come here illegally so they get to vote in our elections. They think that’s going to help them win,” Scott said at a Senate press conference on the SAVE Act on Sept. 11.
- In a FOX Business interview on Sept. 13, Scott said, “The SAVE Act just basically says to register to vote in this country, you have to prove you’re a citizen. Pretty basic. “So when the Democrats say they will not pass a continuing resolution if that’s in it, what they’re saying is they want all these illegals that they brought in across the border over the last three and a half years to vote in the November election,” Scott continued. That’s exactly what they’re saying.”
- Scott headlined the Republican Party of Sarasota County Candidates Rally on July 27 at Robarts Arena, an event attended by hundreds, Tampa Bay-area TV station WFLA-TV reported. “They won’t have to commit fraud on elections because they’ll just let every illegal immigrant vote,” Scott said.
- Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), spread baseless rumors about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, eating local pets and fowl, which Scott perpetuated. “We’ve seen disturbing reports of what’s happening in Springfield, Ohio, where the Biden-Harris admin has allowed 20,000 illegal immigrants to take over the small town. Imagine what would happen if Democrats allow them to take over our elections?!” Scott posted on X on Sept. 9.