Nelson still open to Fla. governor bid

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) is keeping the door open on the possibility of running for Florida governor.

On Wednesday, the three-term senator told a group of local business leaders he’s tempted to run because he doesn’t like where his state is heading, The Daytona Beach News-Journal reports.

Nelson, 71, has been floated as a possible Democratic challenger to the state’s current governor, Rick Scott (R), if Charlie Christ doesn’t catch fire. 

The senator has previously said he had no plans to enter the race.

{mosads}Crist previously served as the Sunshine State’s GOP governor and is now running against Scott as a Democrat. Crist left the Republican Party in 2010, after it was apparent he was going to lose to Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) in a Senate primary, and instead mounted a failed bid as an independent. 

At the event Wednesday in Daytona Beach, Nelson criticized Scott for not accepting federal assistance for high-speed rail in the state and deciding not to expand Medicaid through ObamaCare. 

“I think it’s not only a shame,” Nelson said of Scott’s policy on healthcare, “I think it’s a moral abscess.” 

The chairman of Scott’s reelection campaign, state Sen. John Thrasher (R), said Wednesday that Nelson would propose “big government” solutions as governor rather than “market-based” strategies, according to the paper. 

“His solutions are federally based solutions — not Florida-based solutions,” Thrasher said.

Several other lawmakers in Congress are running for governor of their states this November including Reps. Allyson Schwartz (D-Pa.) and Mike Michaud (D-Maine), and Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) is running in 2015.