Scott Powers
The super PAC founded by Gov. Rick Scott is pouring $3.5 million into a new advertising blitz on television and social media attacking Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson as someone who voted to raise taxes and cut Social Security, and calling for him to be “term limited.”
The New Republican PAC ads, “Timeline,” are being released in three versions, six-seconds or 15 seconds for the internet, and 30-seconds for TV.
Republican Scott is battling Nelson in this year’s U.S. Senate race.
Nelson’s campaign responded with a long list of bills and efforts he has sponsored and supported to strengthen and protect both Social Security and Medicare, which are both attacked in the New Republican PAC ads.
“Rick Scott just can’t tell the truth, so he lies about Bill Nelson’s record to hide the fact that he refused over $50 billion to provide nearly one million Floridians with health care. Here’s the truth: no one is more committed to protecting Medicare and Social Security than Bill Nelson,” Nelson for Senate spokesperson Carlie Waibel stated in the response.
The new ads show a progression of black-and-white pictures of Nelson aging while a narrator and text run through a timeline starting in 1972.
“Bill Nelson begins political career,” the narrator declares in the 30-second version, with a picture of Nelson from the 1970s and text that declares “1978 Washington Cut Social Security.” “Went to Washington: cut social security, raised taxes on Floridians,” the narrator continues.
From there the commercial cites a 1990 quote from an Orlando Sentinel story stating he is “leaving few footprints behind,” a voting record comparison that shows him voting “with Hillary Clinton 89 percent of the time,” and again raising taxes and voting to cut Medicare providers and weaken Social Security protections.
“After 45 years, it’s time to term limit Bill Nelson,” the narrator concludes
