By Michaela Galligan 
Photo Credit: Michael Brochstein / Sipa USA via AP file
The 2024 Elections are approaching quickly, and race preparations are well underway. In January, Republican incumbent Senator Rick Scott, announced he would be running for reelection of the seat despite rumors that he would be putting in a bid to run for President in the Republican primary. It was not until late August of this year that a Democratic candidate announced their bid, but Debbie Mucarsel-Powell has now confirmed her bid for the Senate seat.
Debbie Mucarsel-Powell formerly served in the United States House of Representatives, representing Florida’s 26th congressional district from 2019 to 2021. Prior to serving in Congress, Mucarsel-Powell worked in Florida International University’s College of Health and Medicine and while there, worked on the MOTION Act. This bill provided aid, $400 million, to mobilize COVID-19 testing during the height of the pandemic in 2020. While serving in Congress, Mucarsel-Powell wrote more legislation related to the healthcare field, including a bill to expand the coverage of seniors’ Medicare Advantage in regards to COVID-19 treatment. . She also secured $200 million for an Everglades restoration project.
Based on past priorities, political scientists and campaign analysts have predicted that Mucarsel-Powell’s campaign will focus on Social Security and Medicare coverage, environmental sustainability, economic growth, and a fight on gun violence, as the former representative lost her father to the matter when she was young. This has since been confirmed by her campaign.
Before Mucarsel-Powell can run in the general election, she must first win the primary. At the moment, her main challenger is Phil Ehr. Ehr is a retired Navy commander who left the Republican party in 2017. He has since run for a U.S. House of Representatives seat as a Democrat twice against Republican Representative Matt Gaetz.
Democratic officials have stated that flipping a Senate seat is crucial for the party in 2024 if they wish to maintain their very narrow majority in the Senate. John LaBombard, former aid to United States Senator Kyrsten Sinema, stated that “Right now, it looks to me like we’re going to be competitive for both chambers, but especially the Senate map — there’s just a lot of things outside of our control.”
In the 2022 Midterm Elections Republican incumbent Marco Rubio defeated Democrat Val Demings by a 16-point advantage, but despite the loss, Florida Democratic Party leaders are hopeful. Florida Democratic Party chair and former Florida Commissioner of Agriculture, Nikki Fried, recently stated in a press conference, “Democrats are organizing early. We’re organizing now. We are working on reinvesting in the party structure. We’re reinvesting in our base, reinvesting and building our bench. That is how we’re doing this differently.”
Floridians can expect lots of emphasis on this race during the next year from both Democrats and Republicans. Florida Democratic Party chair Nikki Fried told ABC News “It is an absolutely accurate statement that there wasn’t investment here in 2022. That is not going to be the case in ’24.” Political analysts have identified Florida as one of the most likely states to flip in 2024, so the Scott and Mucarsel-Powell campaigns will be in full swing soon enough.