Democrat in Florida Senate race raises more than $1M after poll showing dead heat

Former Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell’s (D-Fla.) Senate campaign said Wednesday it raised more than $1 million in the 48 hours after a poll from The Hill and Emerson College showed her tied with incumbent Sen. Rick Scott (R). 

Mucarsel-Powell’s campaign also said she brought in 13,000 first-time donors during the same period.

“This surge in grassroots support confirms what we have been seeing across the state — Floridians are fed up with Rick Scott’s extremism and are eager for the freedom and economic opportunities that Debbie Mucarsel-Powell champions,” Mucarsel-Powell campaign manager Ben Waldon said in a statement. 

The haul comes after polls show tightening races at the Senate and presidential levels in Florida. On Monday, a Morning Consult survey of the presidential race in Florida showed Vice President Harris trailing former President Trump by only 2 points. 

However, on the Senate side, most other polls show Mucarsel-Powell trailing Scott by a slightly larger margin. The same Morning Consult poll showed the former congresswoman trailing the incumbent senator by 5 points. The Hill/Decision Desk HQ polling average shows Scott leading Mucarsel Powell by just less than 3 points. 

Scott, who has served in the Senate since 2019 and before that was governor, has a history of eking out statewide wins in the Sunshine State. Scott won his 2018 Senate race by less than a point and his two gubernatorial victories by less than 2 points.

In a Tuesday interview with NewsNation — which, along with The Hill, is owned by Nexstar Media — Scott predicted he and Trump would do “really well” in Florida and argued voters are “fed up” with the Biden-Harris administration.