TAMPA, Fla. — Despite voicing more confidence months ago, President Joe Biden's campaign chair is making waves after saying in a podcast interview with Puck, Florida is not a battleground for them this November.
One candidate who could likely be on the Florida ballot this November, thinks otherwise.
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10 Tampa Bay sat down with U.S. Senate Candidate Debbie Mucarsel-Powell as she visited with voters and Hispanic business leaders in Tampa last week.
The former one-term congresswoman is among four Democrats, alongside Stanley Campbell, Rod Joseph and Brian Rush who are vying for a primary win in August to likely take on incumbent Republican Senator Rick Scott in November.
Despite huge gains for Republicans in the Sunshine State, “DMP” still thinks it's a winnable matchup urging voters to be engaged.
“2022 there was a lot of apathy. People stayed home, a lot of our voters did not come out. I think this is going to be a completely different cycle. Rick Scott is well known in the state, but he's extremely unpopular,” Mucarsel-Powell said.
Powell, who will have to win a primary in August, has kept her campaign laser-focused on Scott and the general election.
In the meantime, she’s racked up endorsements from a number of prominent members of congress and spoke on stage alongside President Joe Biden during his visit to Tampa in April. Campbell also recently secured an endorsement from labor union, AFL-CIO.
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Senator Scott’s campaign has targeted Mucarsel-Powell with TV ads calling her extreme, highlighting policies they say has added to inflation and the crisis at the southern border.
“While Senator Scott travels around the state talking to Florida families about the issues that matter most to them, Debbie continues her desperate campaign to prove to her base that she's liberal enough to earn their vote,” said Scott’s Senior Advisor Chris Hartline, in a statement to 10 Tampa Bay, calling her “Joe Biden and Chuck Schumer's hand-picked candidate.”
“I'm tired of the division of the chaos. We need someone that's going to sit down and try to find solutions to the very serious challenges,” Mucarsel-Powell said.
The mom and Ecuadorian immigrant pitched herself as unifier, who says if elected she would take those dinner table issues to the Senate, with proposals to tackle the rising cost of living and property insurance problems plaguing Floridians.
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“There's a bill in the house that doesn't have a senate companion that could actually reduce the price of property insurance rates by 25%,” Mucarsel-Powell said, referencing legislation pitched by Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Florida) last year.
“We also need to invest in building resilient homes, businesses and infrastructure so that we can withstand the storms that are affecting our state,” she added.
When it comes to the border and illegal immigration, Mucarsel-Powell acknowledges "there is a crisis," but says it should not be a political issue.
"I think it's time for Floridians to pay attention to who really is going to reach across the aisle try to reach a compromise secure border and at the same time, you pay attention to a hemisphere that has been abandoned for too long that's causing this crisis that we're seeing of so many immigrants fleeing Latin America."
Mucarsel-Powell says she’s also focused on fighting to protect health care for all Floridians and supports an amendment on the ballot in November that would enshrine abortion rights in the state, saying its Senator Scott who holds the extreme stance on a woman’s right.
“Independent of politicians like Rick Scott, independent of government interference, [the freedom for woman to choose] is central to the health care of a woman, it's central to our dignity and to our safety,” she said.