| Hi Rulers! On Tuesday, The Washington Post published a project called “The Big Shift,” all about how women are gaining more economic power. It’s pretty extensive and I’m still making my way through — but send me your thoughts on it! sgardner@politico.com. This week, I’ve got a Q&A for you about the Sunshine state — AKA where I wish I was at the moment. Boston is currently one big sheet of ice. Let’s get into it! Debbie Mucarsel-Powell was brutally ousted from her seat representing Florida in the U.S. House in 2020. She’s plotting her revenge — in the form of a Senate bid. Mucarsel-Powell, a native of Ecuador who migrated to the U.S. when she was 14, thinks she can oust the former two-term Florida governor, Republican Sen. Rick Scott. Why? She says Floridians are fed up with abortion restrictions, and she’s aiming to tie her campaign to a ballot initiative to enshrine a right to abortion into the state constitution — though it still needs to hold up against the Florida Supreme Court to appear on the ballot in November. “That ballot initiative has over 150,000 signatures from Republican voters here in the state of Florida,” she tells Women Rule in an interview. “This is a purple state.” If Florida is purple, it’s certainly been taking on a more maroon hue in the recent elections. In 2020, Florida was one of two states where Donald Trump performed better than he did in 2016. And in 2022, Democrat Val Demings challenged incumbent Marco Rubio for his Senate seat, losing by a whopping 16 points. Gov. Ron DeSantis also won reelection by a 20-point landslide against Democratic challenger and former Gov. Charlie Crist. But she is the first Democrat to run for Senate in Florida since DeSantis signed a six-week abortion ban — and Floridians have a complex relationship with reproductive rights. Before the Dobbs decision, Florida had one of the highest abortion rates of any state — despite repeatedly electing officials who support staunch abortion restrictions, like Scott, who supports the current six-week ban. This week, Women Rule talked to Mucarsel-Powell about why she thinks the November tide in Florida will be blue, and why, she says, Rick Scott is at his “weakest.” Here’s the conversation, which has been edited for length and clarity. Gardner: Your race is often compared to Marco Rubio vs. Val Demings in 2020. What’s changed since then that you’re expecting a different outcome? Mucarsel-Powell: Every race is completely different, and Rick Scott is the author of a plan that wants to sunset — and pretty much end — Medicare, Social Security and the Affordable Care Act. [He has since dropped that plan.] He severely cut funding to public education. Last cycle and 2022, DeSantis and the Legislature hadn't passed some of these extreme policies: “Don't Say Gay,” the attacks on education, attacks on LGBTQ community, the abortion ban. Everything about this race is different. He's never run in a presidential year. Gardner: Florida had one of the highest abortion rates pre-Dobbs. But the state keeps electing politicians who support restrictions. What’s going on there? Mucarsel-Powell: One of the biggest issues that we have is the targeted disinformation to Florida families. You see it time and time again, when you have really extreme politicians like Rick Scott that are running for office, all of a sudden they try to distance themselves from the extreme policies that they actually support. So I can tell you that [the abortion bans] have really opened up the eyes of so many of us that are living here. Democrats are extremely motivated. They're much more engaged. I have to credit a lot of our independent reporters and journalists all across the state for holding these politicians accountable. I think that you're starting to see the consequences of that. Gardner: Even if voters are more open to a Democratic candidate, to have a shot, you’re going to have to convince donors that this is possible. How will you do that? Mucarsel-Powell: My first priority and my main focus is to talk to Floridians here in the state. We're building a movement that just cannot be ignored. You can feel it when you're down here on the ground, and you can see it. And the money comes with that. So of course we need the resources to communicate, I have no doubt that we are going to get them. But we’re building a very strong grassroots movement to get there. Gardner: In 2020, Donald Trump did better than he did in the state in 2016. He also made inroads with Latinos. That’s a critical demographic in Florida. Does that worry you? Mucarsel-Powell: My story is the story of someone that came here when I was 14. I started working at a minimum wage job when I was 15 at a doughnut shop, and then was able to to go to college, graduated from a very good school, then became an associate dean at the medical school here at [Florida International University] and then ultimately was elected to Congress and became the first South American immigrant to serve in in the U.S. House. It’s a story that relates to so many Latinos out here, and it shouldn't be an exception. It should be the rule. That's why I'm running, because I want to protect those opportunities that are disappearing so quickly, because of people like Rick Scott. I think that a lot of things were happening in 2020. It was during Covid, so people were still isolated in their homes. There was a lot of disinformation targeting our Latino communities. But I have been present before, I was present then, and I continue to be present now by doing outreach on Spanish radio, Spanish television. I am very much a proponent of educating the community on what is going on in Washington. I'm a Latina, and I feel very comfortable being in these spaces and talking about these issues.
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