As campaigns around the country gear up for the last stretch before the elections, there is only one Latina vying for a seat in the Senate. Ahead of November, she is trying to convince constituents of moving away from an increasingly conservative candidate with more moderate stances.
Former Florida Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador. She came to the U.S. from the South American country at a young age with her mom and sisters, fleeing violence and searching for a better life.
As a young immigrant, her mom worked double shifts as a home healthcare provider, while Mucarsel-Powell worked at a doughnut shop to help her family make ends meet.
Working at the Florida International University's Colleges of Health and Medicine as an Associate Dean, Mucarsel-Powell became increasingly active in local issues, including leading a program to expand healthcare to more Floridians. She would eventually make her way to Congress, advocating for these issues and leading bipartisan efforts to expand seniors' Medicare Advantage coverage.
After one term in office, the Democrat lost her seat to Republican Rep. Carlos Gimenez in 2020. She then joined the gun violence prevention organization Giffords, founded by former Rep, Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz.
Now, she is vying for larger aspirations— the U.S. upper chamber of Congress. If she manages to beat incumbent Rick Scott, she would join the only Latina currently in the Senate, Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada.
But she faces a tough battle. If she wins her state's primaries (which will be held Aug. 20), as she is favored to do, the former Rep. will face Scott, who holds significant name recognition in the state having served eight years as governor.
Scott won both of his governor's races with less than 50% of the vote, and then barely registered a majority in winning election to the Senate in 2018 by about 10,000 votes. Scott currently leads the potential race against Mucarsel-Powell by 4 points, according to a recent poll by the Public Opinion Research Lab at the University of North Florida, within the poll's margin of error and consistent with other polls showing Scott with a singlet-digit lead.
Still, Mucarsel-Powell seems confident in her chances, promoting her "purple" ideology— meaning she has voted with Democrats and Republicans— as well as her sensitivity on the issues plaguing Floridians, and Americans', lives.
She recently sat down with The Latin Times to discuss her campaign. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Latin Times: You are the only Latina running for Senate this cycle and your Latinidad is at the forefront of your campaign. How does this reflect the way you will represent your constituents if you win your race as opposed to Rick Scott? Do you think being Latina is a plus in your ambitions?
Debbie Mucarsel-Powell: it's who I am, right? And it's my story that I think resonates, not only with Latinos here, but with a lot of people that live in the state of Florida. I started with nothing when my mother brought my sisters and I from Ecuador, and really she was looking for opportunities to give her daughters. And because of those opportunities, I'm now the only Latina running for Senate in the United States. And that only happens here. It's an incredible, incredible country, and that's why I'm running.
I want to protect those opportunities. I shouldn't be the only one that has been able to reach these goals. We want to pave the way for Latinos, Latinas that see a country full of possibilities, but don't know where to begin, where to start. And then you have Rick Scott, someone that has been robbing us of those opportunities. He's voted against our interests here in the Latino communities, but also in our state. And my story shouldn't be an exception. It really should be the rule, and the struggles that I have faced are very similar to the struggles that so many people have faced here in the state of Florida.
I tell everyone that a lot of the reasons why I'm running: my mom now lives with me. I take care of her, and she's been struggling with her health, and I've seen what a life saving program Medicare has been for her, her social security check, that fixed Social Security check that goes a long way, although it's not a lot, but it goes a long way. And you have Rick Scott, someone that wrote a plan that would eliminate Social Security and Medicare. I'm a mom. I have two daughters. I want to make sure that they thrive and that they live in a state with more opportunities than I've had, and now they're living in a state with fewer rights than I have had since coming to America, and that's completely unacceptable.
LT: Many studies suggest the economy and other pocketbook issues are top priority for Latino voters. As a fellow immigrant who worked her way through minimum wage jobs, what are some of your plans at tackling these issues, especially as it seems voters are losing trust in Democrats at handling them?
DMP: Everywhere I've been in the state of Florida and anyone I've spoken to, whether students in the northern part of Florida or seniors down here in South Florida, they can't afford to pay their rent, to pay for their bills. It's becoming more and more unaffordable. So, the first policy plan for me— and this is a priority— that I released was this affordability plan, which would lower property insurance rates by 25% and expand Child Tax Credit, make sure that we bring good paying jobs to the state of Florida.
We're the Sunshine State. We should be leading the effort in manufacturing solar energy options. And right now, China is in control of 80% of solar panels. Just think about that for a second. We should be able to bring those companies to manufacture right here in our state. We should be able to not allow these huge companies to price gouge, and we have seen that our inflation rates in Florida are higher than the rest of the country. We have seen higher costs for goods and services in Florida, much more than in other states. And so there's a lot that we can do, but we need to start by electing leaders that are going to put the well being of our families above politics, about self enrichment, self gain, which is what Rick Scott has been doing. I mean, he is desperately trying to seek this, the leadership seat to lead the Senate, and it's because he wants to eliminate these programs and make it harder for working families to make it. He wants to raise taxes, actually to middle class families. He's not working for us. He's completely sustained it for himself.
LT: Florida is home to one of the largest immigrant communities in the country, and the numbers keep increasing. Do you think the U.S. is currently going through a migrant crisis? If so, how can Florida begin to tackle it?
DMP: I've been very vocal that, yes, we need to invest in border security. And Rick Scott voted against investments on a bill that would bring border security, that would invest in border security, that was sponsored and supported by Customs and Border Patrol, but we also have to pave the way for legal pathways, we need to start by providing Dreamers legal pathways to citizenship. I actually led in Congress the bill that would provide Cuban families with reunification. It was a Cuban reunification parole program, that was a bill that I led when I was in Congress. Those legal pathways lower the number of people that come to the border.
But the reality is that no one is talking about what we need to do to support people in Venezuela, Nicaragua. They're trying to fight for democracy and freedom. We have a huge issue right now in this hemisphere, and I don't have to tell you what's going on in Venezuela is critical, not only for the people of Venezuela, but for the entire region. And so the reason why people are coming, and we have had this crisis, is because they're fleeing violence. They're fleeing political persecution, and we have to look at ways that we can support countries that are trying to protect democracy, you know, and we need to stand by our allies in Latin America and Central America and the Caribbean, and work together to bring democracy, freedom, stronger economic institutions to Latin America, and, you know, to Central America, to the entire region. That's why I keep mentioning the region, because it's Central America and the Caribbean as well. And so this is a much more complex problem than just throwing money at the border security. But if you really want to deal with the immigration crisis that we have seen, we have to sit at the table with whoever is willing to face those challenges and find solutions, and it includes supporting our allies in Latin America that are trying to protect their democracy.
LT: You have been highly vocal about your pro-choice stance, being the mother of two daughters. With abortion on the ballot in November, how do you think voters will respond?
DMP: I think the majority of Floridians support the amendment that's going to be on the ballot. They support a woman making this decision in the privacy of her doctor's office with her family and her faith, and it should be free of government interference, and no one, especially Rick Scott, should have any say in that decision that a woman makes. This is fundamental to our health care, central to our health care, but it's also a fundamental civil right for a woman living in this country. So I think that it's not a political issue. We have Republicans, Independents, Democrats that have said to me, this is their top issue. When they come out in November, they are going to vote to support the amendment, but also vote for me in this campaign because Rick Scott supports the six week abortion ban.
LT: If you win the Senate seat, you will be accompanied by Senator Marco Rubio in representing Florida. Holding stark differences in your ideology, how do you plan to work alongside him?
DMP: If Senator Rubio wants to work for Floridians, I'm sure that he is going to want to work in a bipartisan fashion to pass bills that will protect our environment or coral reefs. I know that when I was in Congress, I asked for his support in a bill that would bring funding to coral reefs, and I believe, I'm pretty sure he signed on to that. So I have no problem working with anyone that wants to bring funding and support the programs that are going to be critical to protect our environment, to lower the cost of living for families living in the state of Florida, to make sure that our children live in communities that are free of gun violence, right? I mean, there are a lot of issues that I am willing to talk to the senator, and would love to talk to the senator about and sit together and find ways to advance the interests of our communities in Florida. I know he agrees that we need to bring more economic opportunities. So let's figure out ways that we can do that together.
LT: Polls currently show you are slightly trailing behind Scott. Do you think you will be able to overturn this race? And if so, what should Floridians expect if you win your Senate seat?
DMP: I feel really optimistic, because we have been building the momentum in this campaign for the past year. We've been building a grassroots campaign that brings the people into this campaign to give them the power to make these changes. Here in the state of Florida, this race is so much bigger than me. It's about them. It's about making sure that they participate in the process and they feel empowered to make that change. And that's exactly what we're seeing, and the momentum will continue to build. I am excited to see so many young people out on the campaign trail, women, men, who are ready to bring change back to Florida, and it's going to happen in November.
[If I win, Floridians can expect] a senator that understands what they're going through, someone that understands the struggles that families are facing, and that I will be able to bring those voices with me to the Senate, I will always, always have their back. I will always look out for them. Anything that I do in the Senate will be the same as what I did when I was in Congress. For me, votes are extremely important, and when you look at a vote, you need to think, how is this going to affect the majority of the people that would be impacted by this particular bill. I always put the interest of the people above politics, above special interests. I've always led that way. I am a mom, so I understand what a working mom has to face. I know what it's like to send her kids to school and be worried that something could happen to them when they're in school. I know what it's like to start at a minimum wage and have to work really, really hard to make it. I know. I understand what seniors are facing with the high cost of medicine. Today I saw that they were able to negotiate lower prices for certain medicines, and that's a great, great set to lower, to lower the cost of health care for seniors. We need to continue to do that because so much of those struggles I have faced, and I continue to face, I want families here in the state of Florida to understand that they have someone that will always be their champion and always advocating to make their lives a little better.
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