Sen. Rick Scott prepares for 2024 battle during stop in Tampa
TAMPA, Fla. - As aides to Senator Rick Scott prepared the room for a roundtable discussion with supporters at La Teresita in west Tampa, they placed copies of his "11 Point Plan to Rescue America" around the room. Inside the glossy packet were proposals to reform education, police and immigration, plus an addendum printed on paper.
In bold letters, under his proposal to reexamine federal programs every five years, it says, "this was never intended to apply to Social Security or Medicare."
"There's always a way to write things better," he said during an interview afterward. "I am committing to do that."
Sen. Rick Scott rebuts Biden’s accusations on Medicare and Social Security
The morning after President Joe Biden visited Tampa, Sen. Rick Scott was in town and visited Good Day. The president said the former Florida governor wants to ‘sunset’ Medicare and Social Security. In this interview, Sen. Scott said, ‘I think he’s lying, confused, clueless.’
Three weeks prior, President Biden held the up the brochure during his State of the Union speech and during an appearance in Tampa.
"Republicans seem shocked when I held up the pamphlets they were using," the president said.
Though Scott says President Biden mischaracterized his proposals, Scott's brochures may be the first shot fired on the battlefield of the 2024 campaign, which will be a test of the GOP's momentum after their big wins in Florida's 2022 elections.
Sen. Rick Scott stops in Tampa to talk with voters ahead of the 2024 election
Scott said, "I am not going to take anything for granted."
Scott's wins for governor in 2010 and 2014 were both within 1.2 points of his opponents, and in 2018, he won his Senate seat by just over a tenth of a point.
He acknowledged the 2024 race has one key difference: for the first time, he's running during a presidential election year, which could bring more energy from Democrats.
"It has been nice because I have been the top of ticket, the first one on the ballot, so this will be different this time," said Scott.
But beating a Senate incumbent is one of the toughest jobs in politics, and will be even tougher for Florida Democrats because their get-out-the-vote infrastructure is undermanned, according to former state agriculture commissioner Nikki Fried.
She hopes to be the new Democratic Party chair, and admitted they have to start from scratch to beat Scott.
"It's going to be a combination of making sure that we are ready on both fronts, on an organizational structure, but also making sure that we've got the right candidate who is going to energize our base," said Fried.
She also sees an opening after the leadership of Scott's own party distanced itself from the initial brochure that Biden referenced during the State of the Union.
Scott, though, says that's a feather in his cap, saying members of party leadership are the ones who have helped break Washington.
No one from the Democratic Party of Florida has announced a candidacy for Senate.