A win could determine which political party is in control of the chamber.

After their primary victories, Republican U.S. Senator Rick Scott and his Democratic opponent, former U.S. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel Powell, wasted no opportunity to attack each other.

A seat could determine which party controls the chamber and has the power to approve, or block, appointments to the judiciary branch and to the next administration.

Both have harshly criticised the other over perceived weaknesses heading into the November 5th election. Scott called Mucarsel Powell an “open border socialist”, while Mucarsel Powell called Scott “extremist”. Scott also criticized Mucarsel Plow for pushing for federal abortion restrictions and putting social safety net programs in danger.

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Scott stated that the “most radical socialist ticket” of my lifetime, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz with Debbie Mucarsel Powell, aims to fundamentally destroy freedom in America for future generations.

Mucarsel Powell sees the stakes as equally high. Abortion rights are at stake, as is the erosion of democracy. He cites Scott’s suggestion that illegal immigrants would vote in mass if Democrats won the election in November, and his claim that during the 2018 recount that he had won, votes were “found” for Bill Nelson, his Democratic opponent.

Scott is “extreme and dangerous. He’s not done anything to help us reduce costs for our families,” Mucarsel Powell said in an article published by the USA TODAY Network-Florida. “People are tired of extreme politics, and Scott represents that.” He is one the most extremist politicians. “He’s the Senate poster child for extreme extremism.”

Scott, 71 years old, is the former executive of a hospital company who rode on a wave of tea party enthusiasm and conservative enthusiasm from 2010 to 2019. He served as Florida Governor between 2011 and 2019 before winning the U.S. Senate Seat.

Mucarsel Powell, 53, is a native of Ecuador who emigrated to America at the age of 14 and later became an administrator at Florida International University. She lost the 2016 state Senate election before winning a U.S. House Seat in 2018. She served only one term, before she was defeated by U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez of Miami.

Top issues include immigration, abortion and judiciary

Scott’s main attack on Mucarsel Powell has been illegal immigration. Her campaign has recently criticized her for voting in 2019 on a bill which would have given legal status to certain undocumented migrants. The bill received 34 Republican votes, including Miami U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz Balart.

Will Hampson, a Scott spokesman, said that Mucarsel Powell’s “strong backing of amnesty” and allowing illegal immigrants to vote in federal elections places her in the company of Joe Biden, The Socialist Squad and other radical Democrats in Washington.

“As Biden, (Senate Minority Leader Chuck) Schumer work together in Washington to fight for amnesty for illegals and voting rights, Florida voters must decide if they would like an open-border socialist to represent them who would place illegals above the people of Florida.”

Mucarsel Powell has repeatedly criticized Scott for his vote against a bill that would have protected in vitro fertilisation procedures.

Scott has stated that he would not have signed the previous state ban of 15 weeks, but he does prefer it because it more accurately reflects the sentiments in the state. He is against Amendment 4, however, which would repeal the six-week abortion ban and establish a right to abortion in the constitution.

Scott also stated that he wanted to protect IVF treatments. He noted this issue was personal for him, as his youngest daughter had undergone these treatments.

Mucarsel Powell has also stressed the importance of the Senate seat when it comes to confirming judges, in order to highlight the stakes in the abortion debate.

In 2022, the conservative majority of the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. This eliminated a federal right for an abortion. The issue was then sent to the states. Fears of restrictions were sparked by the Alabama Supreme Court’s decision in January that embryos stored for IVF procedures are entitled to the same protections and rights as children.

Mucarsel Powell stated that “we are where we are today because those Supreme Court Justices were confirmed by Donald Trump.”

This election also saw inflation and economic issues loom large.

Both candidates have also sparred about inflation and cost of living. Scott points out that the massive spending bills under Joe Biden are the primary cause of the rampant inflation. The cost of groceries and gasoline has risen to levels not seen in the 1980s.

Mucarsel Powell says Scott didn’t do anything to ease the situation, and in the case that property insurance has risen, he contributed to it.

Mucarsel Powell asked, “What has he achieved for Floridians?” “People are unable to pay their rent. They cannot pay their insurance premiums. “A lot of this began under Rick Scott.”

Scott, in turn, has emphasized a plan floated recently by Kamala Harris (Vice President of the Democratic Party), to establish price controls on groceries. She compared it to socialist policies like those of the Soviet Union and Venezuela today.

“Kamala Harris who has NO IDEA how to run a company wants to implement federal price controls in the style of the Soviet Union.” Scott wrote on X that the plans should terrify all Americans.

The criticism coincides with Scott’s claim that Mucarsel Powell is a socialist. This charge was explosive in South Florida where a large number of Cubans, Venezuelans, and other people who fled socialist and communist regimes live.

Mucarsel, who denies being a “socialist”, compares Scott’s refusal of stating whether he would accept the results of the November elections to Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro declaring that he had won the recent elections in Venezuela, despite the fact he lost.

Mucarsel Powell responded, “He is lying; it’s false; it’s disinformation.” It’s the same type of attack Republicans use across the country, and especially here in South Florida, to confuse people who fled a dictatorship like my mother, my family.