FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — U.S. Sen. Rick Scott is spending millions to reach Hispanic voters in Florida, a key voting group for his November re-election campaign, which has become increasingly Republican-leaning.
Scott’s campaign said Wednesday that it plans to spend about $700,000 a week on a series of ads on radio, digital, TV and streaming services in English and Spanish.
In the coming weeks, the campaign will release several ads targeting this key voting group, which has consistently voted Republican over the past few election cycles. These ads will run in Miami, West Palm Beach, Orlando and Tampa – all major Florida cities that are crucial to his re-election campaign, with Miami having the largest group of Hispanic voters.
The first TV ad was released Wednesday, without any mention of Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, a former U.S. representative from Miami who is running to dethrone the senator.
This week, Democrats celebrated a glimmer of hope for this election cycle after the Florida Supreme Court approved an abortion rights ballot initiative that Florida voters would decide in November.
“In Florida, we understand how socialism stifles the human spirit,” Scott said in the Wednesday morning ad. “That’s why I’m fighting the socialist agenda in Washington.”
Scott, like other Republicans, has often accused Democrats of espousing socialism. The accusation has generally divided Democrats and Hispanic voter groups that escaped communist regimes in Cuba and Venezuela, which make up a large portion of Miami-Dade County voters. This traditionally blue county was in the red in the most recent midterm cycle and is currently Florida’s most populous county, with more than 60% of registered voters identifying as Hispanic.
Scott said last month that he is putting a lot of effort into talking to Hispanic voters and finding that they are concerned about “the same things that everyone else is doing,” such as education, public safety and jobs.
“People who came to this country legally from another country came here because they wanted the rule of law,” Scott said. “They want what America has to offer.”
Mucarsel-Powell, who announced her campaign last August, was elected in 2018. Born in Ecuador, she was the first Ecuadorian American to Congress and the first South American-born congressional delegate. She lost her seat after one term to Republican U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez.
Mucarsel-Powell said last month that she relates to Hispanic voters because her story is similar to “so many people who live here in South Florida.”
As part of her campaign, she does biweekly Spanish radio interviews to reach Spanish-speaking communities. In these interviews, she often speaks to voters concerned about socialism and has accused Scott of promoting “misinformation.”
“I have seen firsthand what it looks like when a dictator takes power,” Mucarsel-Powell said. “So many people have to deal with that. So it’s going to be harder – very difficult – for him to really connect with the reality of the Latinos who live here in South Florida and what we’re dealing with.”
The ad campaign was first reported by NBC News.
