Florida Democrats are floating the idea of hosting a primary debate for the Senate 2024 cycle, as the party hopes to stage a comeback in a state that’s dominated by Republicans.
Phil Ehr, a retired U.S. Navy veteran who ran an unsuccessful bid to oust Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) in 2020, launched his Democratic candidacy for the U.S. Senate earlier this year. Ehr reached out to the newly entered former Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell on Wednesday, proposing a series of campaign debates.
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“Debbie and I both share an unwavering commitment to defeating Rick Scott in 2024 and getting him out of the U.S. Senate once and for all, but I believe that Florida Democrats deserve the opportunity to hear directly from both of us about how we will get it done so they can make an informed decision," Ehr said on X. He added that he hoped his opponent would agree that “transparency and openness are keystone values.”
The race to unseat Scott ramped up this week when Mucarsel-Powell launched her campaign, challenging the three time state election winner, Scott.
In a two-minute campaign video posted on X Tuesday, Mucarsel-Powell targeted Scott over hot button issues like abortion, taxes, and his move to end all federal programs after five years, which once included Social Security and Medicare before he made an expectation for them.
“He wrote the plan that could take away the Social Security and Medicare you worked and paid for,” Mucarsel-Powell said. “And he’s gotten tens of millions of dollars richer, while so-called serving the people, but our costs for prescriptions, health insurance, homeowners insurance, have all gone up.”
The state’s Democratic Party Chairwoman Nikki Fried agreed with Ehr that debates can help spread the party’s message to voters, noting they can't endorse a contender but advocated for the take down of Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL).
“We all know that there’s never going to be enough resources in our state to get all our message out, not just to Democrats, but independents and Republicans, so getting an opportunity to present yourself to the whole state in that kind of format that gets to talk about who they are, why they’re doing what they do, only helps get the name ID up, only helps to get our messaging out, and to make sure that people see the true difference between our candidates and Rick Scott,” Fried told the Florida Phoenix.
Mucarsel-Powell, an Ecuadorian immigrant, defeated two-term Republican incumbent Carlos Curbelo in Florida’s 26th District in 2018 before losing the seat in 2020 to Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL).
The Scott campaign called her a “socialist” and highlighted that she voted along the same lines as former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).
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“We’d like to welcome yet another failed congressional candidate to the crowded Democrat primary,” Scott’s communications director, Priscilla Ivasco, said in a statement.
On a national level, the Democratic Party does not plan to hold primary debates for president. Republicans held their first primary debate on Wednesday. White House hopefuls, self-help author Marianne Williamson and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., have both pushed the Democratic National Committee to host primary debates.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Mucarsel-Powell's campaign for a comment.