By Jim Turner ©2024 The News Service of Florida
TALLAHASSEE — Donald Trump has been elected as the 47th president of the United States. The Associated Press called the race Wednesday morning after Trump won the key state of Wisconsin.
In the presidential race in Florida, former President Donald Trump topped Vice President Kamala Harris by more than 13 percentage points in unofficial results as of about 9:30 p.m.
Republican U.S. Sen. Rick Scott won his fourth statewide election Tuesday, as U.S. House incumbents from both parties held their seats in what continues to become a more solidly Republican state.
Scott was defeating Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell by more than 12 percentage points.
“This is a team win. We won, they lost,” Scott said at his victory party at the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point Resort and Spa in Bonita Springs.
Scott, who was elected twice as governor before getting elected to the Senate in 2018, also pointed to his run for Senate leadership next week.
“We needed a Republican Party to start solving the problems of this country, and we have a significant number of problems,” Scott said. “Florida is a center of the Republican Party of this country. Washington can learn a hell of a lot from what we’ve done right here in this great state.”
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In a news release, Trump campaign senior advisers Danielle Alvarez and Brian Hughes said, “Florida voters cemented what we already knew: Florida is TRUMP Country.
Of the 26 Florida members of the U.S. House up for re-election on Tuesday, all 26 won, with Republicans maintaining a 20-8 advantage over Democrats.
In the only open seat, former Florida Senate President Mike Haridopolos, a Brevard County Republican, easily won in Congressional District 8. U.S. Rep. Bill Posey, R-Fla., decided not to seek another term in the district.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Shelia Cherfilus-McCormick was the only member of the state delegation re-elected without opposition.
Re-elected Republicans were U.S. Reps. Matt Gaetz, Neal Dunn, Kat Cammack, Aaron Bean, John Rutherford, Michael Waltz, Cory Mills, Daniel Webster, Gus Bilirakis, Anna Paulina Luna, Laurel Lee, Vern Buchanan, Greg Steube, Scott Franklin, Byron Donalds, Brian Mast, Mario Diaz-Balart, Maria Elvira Salazar and Carlos Gimenez.
Luna, in what was considered the most competitive House contest, captured nearly 55 percent of the vote as she defeated Democrat Whitney Fox in Pinellas County’s Congressional District 13.
“Despite the fake polls, slanted media, intimidation and doxxing, dark Democrat super PAC money, and intentional story suppression of my campaign: we won,” Luna posted on X. “Thank you Pinellas. I look forward to representing you all and continuing to fight for our constitutional republic in Washington DC!”
Democratic U.S. Reps. Darren Soto, Maxwell Frost, Kathy Castor, Lois Frankel, Jared Moskowitz, Frederica Wilson and Debbie Wasserman Schultz were also re-elected.
The large margins of victory for Trump and Scott dispelled repeated assertions by Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Nikki Fried that Florida remained “in play.”
Nationally, Florida wasn’t viewed as being competitive.
The outlook was reflected in data compiled by the Alexandria, Va.-based ad-tracking firm AdImpact, which showed advertising in Florida on the presidential campaign dropped from $371 million in 2020 to about $4 million this year.
Floridians continued to be inundated by political messaging, but the focus shifted to down-ballot races and a handful of other issues, such as a pair of proposed constitutional amendments on abortion and recreational marijuana.
Mucarsel-Powell, a former congresswoman from Miami, was unable to make significant headway against Scott. The incumbent, who turned his attention in the final weeks to recovery efforts from Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton, didn’t accept a debate with Mucarsel-Powell, who he painted as a “radical socialist” tied during her single term in Washington, D.C. to former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The Ecuadorian-born Mucarsel-Powell campaigned against rising housing costs and Florida’s efforts to limit access to abortions, while also attacking Scott over a 2022 plan to cut Social Security and Medicare coverage.
A former health care executive, Scott spent at least $24.5 million of his own money on the latest campaign, which he hopes will position him to become the party leader in the Senate. According to the Miami Herald, Scott “served as chairman and CEO of the hospital company until 1997, when he resigned under pressure after federal agents made their investigation into fraud at the company public by executing search warrants against hospitals owned or previously owned by Columbia/HCA.”
Six years ago, Scott spent about $64 million in his first successful Senate campaign. His two gubernatorial wins cost Scott about $88 million from his personal accounts.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report
