Rick Scott says there’s ‘zero energy’ for Kamala Harris in Florida

Florida’s junior Senator is sounding off about the Kamala Harris presidential campaign, arguing it has no juice in the Sunshine State.

In Chicago to counterprogram the Democratic National Convention, U.S. Sen. Rick Scott argued “there’s zero energy for Harris” in Florida.

“Donald Trump can come down in two days, have a 50,000-person rally. Harris can come down and prepare, prepare for two years and couldn’t get 200 people to show up. Right? We don’t want socialists,” Scott said on the Guy Benson Show.

Scott and Trump lead in polls, albeit marginally compared to the 2022 red wave elections in Florida.

The best polling for the Republicans comes from Associated Industries of Florida (AIF), which shows Trump up 52% to 44% over Harris, with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at 3% in a three-way race. Scott leads former U.S. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell by 10 points (52-42%), with 7% of voters undecided.

Some surveys are closer, meanwhile, including one from Florida Atlantic University’s PolCom Lab that shows Trump leading Harris, 50% to 47%. The USA Today/Suffolk University/WSVN-TV phone poll of 500 likely voters conducted between Aug. 7 and Aug. 11 shows Trump ahead of Harris, 47% to 42%, with 5% backing Kennedy and 5% undecided.

Turning to the Senate battle, the latest survey from Florida Atlantic University’s PolCom Lab shows Scott with a marginal 47% to 43% lead over his Democratic opponent. Other Florida Atlantic University polls showed a 16-point race and a 2-point difference, and a Florida Chamber of Commerce poll showed a 15-point gap earlier this Summer.

Beyond talking about Harris’ “energy” in Florida, Scott also questioned her running mate’s military bona fides, including wondering why a so-called “socialist” would be in the military for 24 years.

“I have never met a veteran that went to war and came back and said, I think socialism is so good. That’s what we go to wars over. We go to war to help people get freedom, we go to war to defend freedom, not to defend oppression. And so for him to say anything about his military service and then be a socialist is the craziest thing in the world,” Scott said.