TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - The clash between U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, a Democratic incumbent who coasted to easy victories in his last two elections in Florida, and Gov. Rick Scott is quickly escalating into an expensive and now negative campaign.
A super PAC that Scott once chaired announced Thursday that it is launching a new television ad that goes after Nelson. The New Republican super PAC said it plans to spend $2.4 million on an ad that contends the three-term senator has not accomplished anything during his lengthy time in office. The ads echoes criticism that Scott has already leveled at Nelson by noting how he has been paid during his political career.
The round of ads from the pro-Scott group is coming right as the Scott campaign is in the midst of spending more than $5 million on three different television ads. Those ads feature Scott but do not criticize Nelson directly.
The flurry of activity six months ahead of Election Day underscores that the race against Scott is Nelson’s most serious challenge since he was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2000. The election could be pivotal in deciding whether the Democrats are able to wrestle control of the U.S. Senate away from Republicans.
Nelson campaign manager Marley Wilkes ripped the ad and fired back at Scott, who was forced out as chief executive of Columbia/HCA amid a federal fraud investigation. Although Scott was never charged with any wrongdoing, the health care conglomerate paid a then-record $1.7 billion fine for Medicare fraud.
“This is nothing but a baseless, Rick Scott Super PAC attack trying to distract from his record of putting himself first at the expense of Floridians,” Wilkes said. “Bill Nelson has spent his time as a public servant fighting for Floridians.”
Scott, a multi-millionaire businessman who first ran for political office in 2010, followed a similar strategy in his two runs for governor as he hit the airwaves months before he was on the ballot. In his initial run for governor Scott and his family poured more than $70 million of their own money into the race.
Scott in May 2017 became chairman of the New Republican super PAC and raised money for the group, but stepped down from that role shortly before he announced his run against Nelson. End Citizens United, a political action committee that backs Democrats, has filed a federal election complaint that maintains Scott has coordinated his Senate run with the super PAC in an effort to skirt federal campaign finance laws.
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