- Florida Senator Rick Scott will be on the ballot in November, and given today’s news, he, along with other Republicans, will face a more challenging path to re-election.
- Scott barely eked out a victory in 2018, just beating incumbent Democrat and former astronaut Bill Nelson by one tenth of a percentage point.
- Florida is officially the first state where pro-choice advocates have successfully placed a constitutional amendment on abortion on the 2024 ballot and it could have major, major consequences.
- That, to me, sounds like a hell of a motivator to women, to voters of color, to people who essentially tend to lean Democrat.
- A woman, a Latina, a Democrat who seems to get it and knows how to fight, Florida is back in play!
NBC Meet the Press: Florida Supreme Court issues significant rulings in two abortion related cases
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- This is affecting tens of thousands of women not only here in our state but also in the Southeast region that have been using Florida as their last state of resort to make sure they have access to this critical reproductive health care.
- This is going to affect mortality rates, particularly for Black women who will not be able to have access to health care.
- I am feeling optimistic that we will show the country that Florida is not who these extremists want people to believe. They don’t represent our values. We are an independent state, a bright purple state, and we will show everyone in November.
Daily Kos: ‘Incredible opportunity’: Florida Senate hopeful cheers abortion ballot measure
- Senate Democrats view Scott, who has never won a general election by more than 1.2 percentage points, as a uniquely vulnerable candidate, even in a red state like Florida. Now they can add the turbo booster of an abortion-rights ballot measure following a Monday ruling from the state Supreme Court allowing Floridians to vote on the issue in November.
- Floridians strongly support both abortion access and the ballot measure. A 2022 Florida Atlantic University poll found that 67% of Sunshine State residents think abortion should be legal in all or most cases. And last November a University of North Florida poll showed 62% of voters said they would vote for a state constitutional amendment guaranteeing a right to an abortion before fetal viability, which is at roughly 24 weeks of pregnancy.
- “Not only should we make this the law here in Florida, but we need to make sure that we do not re-elect Rick Scott, who, in the Senate, would be pushing a national abortion ban,” she said. “It would mean nothing if we pass this ballot initiative in Florida and then we have a Republican Senate majority pushing for that.“
Washington Post: Democrats eye Florida after abortion ruling
- In a matter of minutes yesterday, a decision by Florida’s top court gave Democrats a much-needed shot of energy in a state that has been out of reach for them in recent elections.
- The decision could boost Democrats up and down the ballot by putting abortion front-and-center, but it’s still a tall task to put the former swing state back on the map for Democrats.
- The ballot measure needs 60 percent support to pass in November, but regardless of the outcome, if history is any indication, it will energize voters. Voters in all six states that have put forward ballot initiatives — California, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Vermont, and Ohio — ended up codifying abortion rights.
- “We can’t afford to leave a state that’s this important behind,” Mucarsel-Powell said in an interview shortly after the court’s decision. “We’ve seen time and time again voters coming out in huge, huge mass to make sure they protect their freedom to choose and the same thing is going to happen here in the state of Florida.”
Miami Herald: Florida Supreme Court rulings ensure abortion takes center stage in elections
- U.S. Senate candidate Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, hoping to unseat Republican Sen. Rick Scott, promised that the state’s new six-week ban will “backfire” on the GOP.
- “It’s not a partisan political issue,” she said. “This is truly an issue of respecting a woman’s dignity, protecting her right to choose, kicking out any sort of politician or government who interferes in that decision.”
- Pro-abortion rights ballot measures have a track record of success, even in some of the country’s reddest states. In 2022, voters in states like Kansas and Kentucky voted down ballot measures that would have removed abortion rights protections from their state constitutions. Last year, in Ohio, voters approved a constitutional amendment enshrining abortion access into state law.
The Hill: Democratic candidate calls Florida Supreme Court abortion decisions a ‘game changer’ in Senate race
- Florida Democratic Senate candidate and former Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (D-Fla.) called two key decisions on abortion from the state’s Supreme Court a “game changer” for the Sunshine State’s Senate race in November.
- “The rulings ensure that abortion rights will be front and center on the minds of Floridians as they head to the polls this November, and Rick Scott’s support for both a national abortion ban and Florida’s cruel and extreme abortion ban are an existential threat to his reelection bid,” the memo reads. “Debbie Mucarsel-Powell is taking the fight to Rick Scott on abortion rights.”
- Democrats and abortion rights advocates applauded the approval of the ballot measure Monday, noting recent Democratic victories related to abortion at the state level in Republican-leaning states. Last week, Democrats flipped a state-House seat in deep-red Alabama by running on the issue. Last year, abortion rights advocates in Ohio voted to enshrine abortion access in the state’s constitution.
Florida Politics: Debbie Mucarsel-Powell pounces on abortion rulings as ‘game changer’ in Senate race
- “It is going to be more important than ever to make sure that we all come out and vote to cement reproductive freedoms into the state constitution,” Mucarsel-Powell said.
- “Over a million and a half Floridians signed on to those petitions requesting for that amendment to be placed on the ballot,” she said. “That includes over 150,000 Republican registered voters. So that structure that’s on the ground is there. It’s already been built.”
- “I have had many Republicans, independents as well, that come to my events that say they are ready to vote for someone that represents them in D.C.,” she said. “They’re done with extreme policies, those that are being pushed by Rick Scott in Washington.”
Roll Call: Florida Supreme Court upends abortion landscape in the South
- In Florida, more than 60 percent of voters indicated they would vote yes on the ballot measure, including more than 50 percent of Republicans, according to recent polling from the University of North Florida.
- Mucarsel-Powell said that many of the signatures collected to get the measure on the ballot came from Republican-registered voters, who would likely be necessary to be part of a coalition to reach the 60 percent threshold to pass the amendment.
- “Florida is a very independent state,” she said. “This is a purple state and Floridians are really exhausted and done with the extreme policies that have been coming out of the supermajority in Tallahassee and from people like Rick Scott in Washington, D.C.”
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