Debbie Mucarsel-Powell credits ‘bipartisan’ support with $3.5M Q1

A Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate is crediting support from across the spectrum — galvanized by the issue of reproductive rights — for her fundraising in the first three months of the year.

“Debbie Mucarsel-Powell’s bipartisan grassroots movement is building momentum across Florida,” said Kate Letzler Moore, Campaign Manager for Debbie for Florida.

“It’s clear that Floridians are determined to protect their freedoms and hold Rick Scott accountable for doubling down on his support for a near-total abortion ban with almost no exceptions for rape and incest. Debbie will continue to travel across the state, talking to voters across the political spectrum about the fight to protect our freedoms and opportunities from Rick Scott.”

The campaign’s narrative of being powered by small-dollar donors is supported with numbers in the Monday media release, including an “average donation of just $39 in Q1” from 90,000 total donations, including from all of Florida’s congressional districts, and “not a dime in self-funding.”

Mucarsel-Powell’s fundraising puts her in a stronger position than Primary opponent Stanley Campbell, whose campaign has been seeded with a million-dollar personal loan from the candidate, but who closed March with less than $772,000 cash on hand.

But as her Campaign Manager suggests, the real competition the Mucarsel-Powell camp worries about isn’t on the August ballot, but awaits in November.

Scott, the richest man in the Senate and a former Governor seeking a second term, has been a prodigiously self-funded candidate in his three successful statewide campaigns.

As Roll Call noted in 2018, Scott put $63.6 million into his successful race against former Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson. He poured more than $75 million into his 2010 race for Governor, where he ran as an outsider candidate who toppled a Republican backed by many establishment elements of the party.

His Q1 fundraising is not available yet, but history teaches that money won’t be a problem for Scott in the General Election.