Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, a Democrat who once represented the Miami area in the US House, will run for Senate from Florida, the former congresswoman told CNN, ending a monthslong search by her party for a challenger to Republican Sen. Rick Scott next year.
Democrats, who are defending the lion’s share of competitive Senate seats in 2024, now look toward a rare pickup opportunity as both parties fight for control of the narrowly divided chamber.
“Florida is ready for change,” Mucarsel-Powell said in an interview. “We are living at a moment of time when our country has become so polarized. Our democracy is at stake. Our rights are at stake.”
Mucarsel-Powell was elected to the US House in 2018, winning a swing South Florida district in a wave year for Democrats and becoming the first Ecuadorian American and first South American immigrant elected to Congress. But she lost her seat after just one term in 2020 to Republican Carlos Gimenez as President Donald Trump was carrying her district and the state. She declined to seek a rematch in 2022.
Now, Mucarsel-Powell hopes to challenge Scott in a race that could further shed light on whether Florida should still be considered a swing state. Scott was elected to the Senate in the same year that voters sent Powell to the House, unseating Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson by the thinnest of margins – about 10,000 votes out of more than 8 million ballots cast.
Since then, Florida has turned sharply to the right. The number of registered Republicans in the state surpassed Democrats in late 2021, and the chasm has widened to half a million voters. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis sailed to reelection by 19 points last year, just four years after winning office after a recount, and the party now holds every statewide office for the first time since Reconstruction. Meanwhile, the state Democratic Party is rebuilding on…
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