Debbie Mucarsel-Powell Wants To Rid Florida of ‘Extremists.’ She Must Beat Sen. Rick Scott First.

Voting may have been the last thing on Floridians’ minds last week as Hurricane Milton barrelled toward the Sunshine State, touching down Wednesday and leaving hundreds of thousands without power. But it was top of mind for Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, a former legislator running for the Senate.

“I made a call and a request [for] the governor to extend voting registration deadlines in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene,” Mucarsel-Powell told Democracy Docket. “We knew that there were thousands of people that lost their homes. The last thing that they’re thinking about is whether to check the registration status or make sure that they’re registered.”

Helene battered the Southeast in late September. The deadline for Florida residents to register was Oct. 7, days before the Category 3 storm Milton made landfall. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis declined to extend the deadline, and a lawsuit seeking an extension was unsuccessful.

“We owe [it] to Floridians to be able to protect their voices in this election,” Mucarsel-Powell said, “to make sure that they have every opportunity to register and have the information available to them, but Governor DeSantis denied that request.”

Mucarsel-Powell, an immigrant from Ecuador and mother of three, who served in the House from 2019 to 2021, isn’t shy about calling out what she sees as a large-scale assault on democratic values, from voting to reproductive freedom. “I have [seen] how this state has been hijacked by extremists who have been attacking all of our freedoms in the state of Florida.”

One of those extremists, Mucarsel-Powell says, is her Republican opponent, incumbent Sen. Rick Scott. “This is an opportunity to stop an extremist [and] an election denier like Rick Scott from getting back to the Senate,” she said. “He should not be anywhere near a position of power in our government.”

As we speak (Oct. 8), Hurricane Milton is heading toward Florida and is projected to be a Category 5 storm (it was later downgraded). How would you, as a senator, navigate this crisis?

The most important thing that you can do as a senator is provide the funding that we are going to need, that we already need here in our state, from FEMA. FEMA provides assistance to those people that won’t receive coverage under some of their insurance plans. Another thing that I would have been working on is making sure that we provide the appropriate oversight so that insurance companies can pay for all the claims after Hurricane Ian. We just saw a report where some of these insurance companies that actually were brought on by Scott to Florida have denied thousands of claims for families that were affected by Hurricane Ian just two years ago. So there’s a lot that we can do. 

You served in the House from 2019 to 2021. What made you want to launch a bid for the U.S. Senate? Why do you think that you’re a better choice for Florida than Scott?

I had the incredible honor of being able to represent South Florida in Congress. And I have seen how this state has been hijacked by extremists who have been attacking all of our freedoms, all of our rights in the state of Florida. Extremists are trying to tell Floridians what we can or cannot teach in our schools. They are attacking some of our most vulnerable populations, members of the LGBTQ+ community, which feels completely under attack.

And now we are living as women under one of the most extreme abortion bans — a six-week ban that was passed into law this year and came into effect on May 1. And it’s a ban that puts the lives of many women at risk. We are hearing stories, right here in South Florida, a woman who was turned away by her doctor. Her pregnancy was not developing properly, she was sent home and she had a miscarriage. She lost almost half her blood and almost lost her life. (In November, Floridians will vote on a ballot measure that would expand abortion access in the state.)

We need leaders who are going to put politics aside and protect the rights and the freedoms of every Floridian, the freedom to be able to retire with dignity for so many seniors that have worked their entire life, to get their Medicare and Social Security, the freedom to be able to work a good paying job and make it here in the state. And, of course, the freedom for a woman to choose, free of government interference. That’s why I’m running.

As a legislator in the House, you introduced a number of what appear to be pro-voting bills. For example, you introduced a proposal in 2019 that would prohibit certain challenges to an individual’s eligibility to vote in a federal election within 10 days of the election. What motivated you to pursue this?

I left my home country once. I don’t want to have to leave this country, too, because we have seen attacks against our democracy and it starts with intimidating voters and using voter suppression tactics to keep people at home. One of the bills that I also introduced was stopping the voters from being purged. And that’s exactly what’s been happening here in the state of Florida.

So for us to be able to protect our freedoms, our democracy, it starts by protecting the pillar of our democracy, which are fair and free elections. People should be able to register on Election Day. The first thing that I would do in the Senate is pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, and that would really be a first step to protecting the right to vote here in the United States.

As a House member in 2019, you voted to impeach former President Donald Trump. What struck me was how you described Trump as being dangerous for democracy. And here we are, after two impeachments, and people are raising those same concerns. Do you still feel that he is dangerous for democracy, and do you stand by how you voted?

I stand by that vote, and, again, I understand what it looks like when you see men or women hold on to power and use the power of the office for self-gain and self-enrichment, and in this case, to continue to hold on to power violating the Constitution. I took my oath to protect the Constitution from domestic and foreign enemies very seriously. I have read the Constitution several times, and I consulted with constitutional experts. I wanted to make sure that I made the right decision when I was serving in the Judiciary Committee.

This was a very solemn moment for our country. It was not easy to take that vote, but I stand by the vote. And after what we saw on Jan. 6 with the insurrection that was incited by the former president, I continue to believe one of the biggest threats we’re facing is someone that would use democracy, use the electoral system, to get into office, hold on to power, and then completely destroy the institutions that got that person there to begin with.

That’s exactly what happened in Venezuela. That’s why we’re seeing what we’re seeing in other countries, like in Nicaragua and Cuba. But let me just say, one of the biggest threats to our democracy is Scott.

Scott voted to overturn the election after the January 6 insurrection. He actually has continued to promote the Big Lie that there was voter fraud, and his campaign has not confirmed whether he would recognize the result of the 2024 election. This is an opportunity to stop an extremist like Scott, an election denier like Scott from staying in the Senate.

If you defeat Scott, you’d be the first Latina immigrant to hold a seat in the Senate. And, as someone who immigrated to the U.S., this nation’s democratic ideals seem to resonate deeply with you. Can you talk more about the significance of your potential victory?

My story is a story of so many Floridians living in our state, so many people that have had to leave their home countries because of political persecution, because of a rise in dictatorships, because they’ve lost the ability to be able to provide for their families.

I understand the struggles of so many people living in our state and across the country, because I’ve had to face those struggles. I started working at a minimum wage job when I was 15, and because of the incredible opportunities that I was able to receive in the United States of America, I’m now talking to you as a Senate nominee for one of the [most populated] states in the country.

This doesn’t just happen by chance. This happens when you have someone that truly believes in what’s possible when you work hard enough and when you have your community behind you. We need a truly representative democracy, and it starts by electing a Latina to the U.S. Senate here in the state of Florida.