Debbie Mucarsel-Powell is challenging Sen. Rick Scott (R) in Florida. This race is one of the few opportunities for Democrats to pick up a Republican-held seat in the Senate.
Sen. Scott has barely won each of his three statewide elections to date. He won his Senate seat in 2018 by 50.1-49.9%, prevailed 48.1-47.1% in the 2014 governor’s race and 48.9-47.7% in the 2010 governor’s contest.
Mucarsel-Powell represented Florida’s 26th Congressional District from 2019-2021 and was elected in 2018 with Council support.
She originally immigrated to the United States from Ecuador as a 14-year old after losing her father to gun violence. She was the first South American immigrant to be elected to Congress and received a master’s degree in international political economy from Claremont Graduate University. Her studies included coursework on nuclear arms control treaties and non-proliferation. In Congress, she served on the House Judiciary and Transportation and Infrastructure Committees.
She had a strong record on Council issues during her time in Congress, including votes opposing additional funding for new nuclear weapons, in support of increased oversight over nuclear weapons programs, and in support of extending the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), among others.
