TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Republican Sen. Rick Scott is preparing to place nearly $10 million in new television ads in the Florida Senate race.
The Scott TV buy, first shared with NBC News, will focus primarily on the Tampa, Orlando and Miami media markets, with spot buys elsewhere in the state, campaign advisers said.
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He’s up against former Democratic Rep. Debbie Mukarsel-Powell, who spent big but received some national help from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in the final weeks of the race.
DSCC, Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried pledged a “millions” of dollars in efforts to help Mucarsel-Powell in a call with reporters on Monday. He was unable to provide a specific figure, and the DSCC declined to offer one. Last week, he said both Florida and Texas bought multimillion-dollar television sets, but did not provide details.
“This money is coming at the right time and we will use it to make sure we build the infrastructure to get Debbie Mukarsel-Powell to the finish line. [and] Retire Rick Scott,” Fried said.
No matter what happens to the national money for Democrats, Scott will certainly maintain his long-standing big money advantage. Scott has spent at least $8 million of his personal fortune, and the $10 million media buy is nearly as much as Mucarsel-Powell’s campaign spent in late July. Scott’s campaign spent $20 million over the same period, according to the most recent available campaign finance reports.
“Our campaign has been serious about this race from the beginning. We’re in a strong position and we’re keeping our foot on the gas until the end,” said Scott consultant Chris Hartline.
The race itself was a bit off national radarbecause Florida is increasingly looking like a Republican stronghold. But Democrats deployed thousands of volunteers across the state and continued consistent messaging that painted Scott as “in trouble,” underscoring Scott’s long-standing relatively low approval rating in Florida for a politician who has never lost a statewide campaign.
“It’s no surprise that the polls show this race is tied — Floridians know that Rick Scott is too extreme for our state,” Mukarsel-Powell said. “For 14 years, Rick Scott has relentlessly attacked our freedoms, hard-earned benefits, and economic opportunity. He has cut funding for our education, veterans, and coastal communities as our state continues to face the effects of extreme weather, climate change, and the affordability crisis that began under his watch. “
Scott generally ran as an incumbent expected to win. He didn’t argue with Mucarsel-Powell and focused less on her than on her — a common tactic for a candidate who thinks he’s winning. His most consistent message was that Mucarsel-Powell “open borders socialist.”
The public poll in the race generally favored Scott, but not by a large margin. It has risen anywhere from high single digits to just a few percentage points. Because the race was so close on paper, it reinforced the message that Democrats are up for the race.
A new poll from GOP polling firm Tyson Group shared with NBC News has Scott 46-38, with 12% unsure, an 8-point margin — outside the margin of error — one of the largest voting gaps of the election cycle.
Hartline, Scott’s adviser, said the margins don’t bother them even as national money pours into the race.
“National Democrats can flirt with spending in Florida if they want to and risk losing incumbent races,” he said. “In either case, we will win big”