Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, the Democratic candidate challenging Sen. Rick Scott, unveiled a policy platform focused on promoting U.S.-made products, increasing solar production, reducing property insurance costs, despite polling significantly behind the incumbent.
Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, the presumptive Democratic candidate to challenge Sen. Rick Scott for his U.S. Senate seat, unveiled her campaign’s first detailed policy platform on Monday.
The former Representative’s plan calls for the promotion of U.S.-made products to create more jobs in Florida and increase statewide solar production, of which 80 percent is done in China. Mucarsel-Powell additionally pledged to place an emphasis on ‘buying American’ in the Senate to help create jobs for Floridians.
“In the Senate, I will tackle rising costs head on,” she said. “Unlike Rick Scott, I oppose raising taxes on the middle class. I also support investing in good-paying jobs to create opportunities for Floridians to achieve success right here in Florida.”
As Florida faces an ongoing homeowner’s insurance crisis, with prices three times the national average, Mucarsel-Powell proposed to cut the cost of property insurance by 25 percent by lowering the amount of reinsurance that insurers have to buy and push to extend solar use to reduce the cost of utilities.
She also highlighted plans to reduce everyday costs for Floridians through support of the Shrinkflation Prevention Act, cracking down on “Big Oil price gouging”, and backing the Lower Drug Costs for Families Act.
Mucarsel-Powell additionally levied expanding the Child Tax Credit (CTC), which would allow approximately 1,004,000 children in Florida receive a $2,000 Child Tax Credit.
A Florida Chamber of Commerce poll released this month places Mucarsel-Powell 15 points behind the incumbent Scott. The poll shows Scott with 54 percent of the vote compared to Mucarsel-Powell’s 39 percent, while seven percent of voters remain undecided. Scott’s lead is supported by 93 percent of Republican voters and 66 percent of Hispanic voters, indicating that Mucarsel-Powell, despite her Latina background, trails significantly among Hispanic voters.
Moreover, a USA Today/Ipsos poll published in April indicated that 74 percent of Floridians have never heard of the former Congresswoman. In totality, just four percent of poll participants held a favorable view of Mucarsel-Powell and eight percent say they have a somewhat favorable view, while the somewhat unfavorable and very unfavorable categorizations both received seven percent of the voter share.
Thus far in her campaign, Mucarsel-Powell has largely focused on abortion access, which she pledges support for, and her intention to back protections to Social Security — an oft-peddled criticism of Scott.