The governor of Florida, Rick Scott, announced today officially in Orlando (central Florida) that he will compete next November for the Senate seat that is currently held by Democratic Senator Bill Nelson.
Republican Scott, a billionaire businessman without previous political experience until his victory in the struggle for state governorship in 2010, said he is running for the Senate because Washington is “a disaster.”
“Washington is dysfunctional and is not going in the right direction, we can change Washington, we must do it and we will do it together,” Scott said at an event attended by his wife and family.
Scott was a strong supporter of putting “limits and term” to the exercise of office in Congress as a means to end privileges, interests and stagnation.
“Why, if the country limits the mandates of a president (two terms), do not we have it for Congress?” Scott asked, a proposal that was cheered by those attending the event.
Scott showed the endorsement of the creation of close to 1.5 million jobs in the private sector since he took office in 2010 and an unemployment rate of 4.8% in March, figures that he expects to make profitable in his application to Senate for Florida.
And he said that if he gives such importance to job creation data, it is because he grew up in a humble family that “struggled to put the bread on the table and get ahead.”
In addition to revitalizing the economy, the businessman, son of a truck driver, has sought since his election to win the Latino vote with support measures for this community while maintaining the mobilization of the conservative base.
Previously, the Secretary of State of Puerto Rico, Luis Rivera Marin, praised the figure of Governor Scott for his “leadership” and “consistent help” to the island after the passage of the devastating Hurricane Maria last September.
Rivera expressed his strong support for Scott in his nomination to the Senate because he is a man of “high moral values, committed to the community” and the defense of freedoms and human rights, said in reference to the critical position of the governor regarding the governments of Venezuela and Cuba.
In fact, on March 28, Scott signed a law in Miami that prohibits the state and its agencies from doing business with companies that have made commercial transactions or have “collaborated” with the Venezuelan government.
Scott used Spanish in the final section of the official announcement of his candidacy to the Senate to highlight the economic bonanza that the state of Florida is experiencing and assure: “we can change Washington and together we will change it”.
“Now I aspire to be your senator, we are still working,” he said in Spanish, referring to his campaign slogan during the event where posters were read saying “We are still working” written in this language.
In a moment of his speech he also referred to the excellent data of tourism in Florida, where, despite the damage caused by Hurricane Irma, a new record was registered in 2017, with the arrival of 116.5 million national and international visitors. international, 3.6% more than in 2016.
It is expected that the fight between Scott and Nelson for the Senate seat will become one of the most expensive and followed in the country.
One of Scott’s weaknesses is his skeptical stance towards climate change, which has been widely criticized.
Scott got the bill related to the Columbia / HCA hospital chain, the largest in the US, of which he was president, and was fined $ 1.7 billion for Medicare fraud when he left the company 1997
The businessman was never accused by the authorities and he accepted the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution, which protected him from incriminating himself, to refuse to give testimony.
In a statement released today, Florida Republican Party President Blaise Ingoglia congratulated the governor on announcing his candidacy for the Senate and affirmed that Floridians “have seen first-hand Scott’s effective leadership.”
“With the November election, Floridians will reward him (Scott) by sending Senator Bill Nelson to retirement,” Ingoglia said. efe
