Mucarsel-Powell: “People reject Republicans because they have crossed the line into extremism” | Elections 2024

If Florida voters support Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, 53, on November 5, she will become the first Latin American immigrant to win a seat in the U.S. Senate. The Ecuadorian-born immigrant came to her adopted country at the age of 14 and initially worked in a doughnut shop.

She served in Congress with the Democratic Party from 2019 to 2021, but was not re-elected. After winning the Democratic primary on August 20 by a large margin, she is now running against Republican millionaire Rick Scott, senator and former governor of the Sunshine State. He was previously considered the favorite in the polls, but Mucarsel-Powell is closing the gap.

The murder of Mucarsel-Powell's father in Ecuador shaped her career, and fighting for gun control is one of her key campaign promises. Women's reproductive rights, expanding Medicare and lowering insurance premiums are other issues she cares about.

Ask. What effect does Kamala Harris have on your campaign?

Answer. The vice presidential nomination has greatly energized voters in the state of Florida and across the country. People are rejecting the extreme policies we saw during Donald Trump's administration. Senator Rick Scott has used the same type of extremist tactics to bombard and confuse voters, especially Latino voters, with misinformation.

Q Trump won Florida in 2016 and 2020. Governor Ron DeSantis is also a Republican, and Senator Rick Scott is ahead in the polls. The Democratic Party faces a challenge.

A. We won with Obama in 2008 and 2012. In 2016, the state started moving in the other direction. When you have a swing state, it swings back, and I've seen that in every county I've traveled through, both Democrat and Republican. People are rejecting Republicans because they've crossed the line into extremism, and the people who live here are much more centrist and independent.

Q Since the Supreme Court's ruling in Roe v. Wade, several states have passed anti-abortion laws. The laws passed by DeSantis are among the most restrictive. What role do reproductive rights play in your campaign?

A. Abortion is central not only to my campaign, but to all the people of Florida. It is central to making sure that women's rights and freedoms are protected, and it is central to protecting democracy in this country. I am a woman. I have three children, two of them girls, and reproductive rights are central to their health and dignity. Latin American countries like Colombia, Mexico and Argentina have already lost the right to choose. When we have extreme laws, like the one in Florida, there are higher rates of violence against women and higher rates of maternal mortality. That is why these countries have passed these laws, because they are more conservative. In Florida, we are already hearing stories of women being told by doctors that they cannot help them, even though the fetus is not developing and the pregnancy is endangering her health. A few weeks ago, a woman in Miami lost a lot of blood and almost died because of this law.

Q One of your initiatives as a member of Congress was to expand eligibility for the public health program Medicare. What challenges does the public health system face today and what measures do you propose?

A. My mother lives with me. I saw her working 12-hour days at two jobs to pay for Medicare benefits. And Republicans, including Rick Scott, are proposing to eliminate that insurance. In Congress, I introduced a bill to expand Medicare coverage for seniors. We need to figure out how to expand that coverage and lower drug prices. In Congress, we worked hard to give Medicare the ability to negotiate with the drug companies. Rick Scott wants to eliminate that negotiation, which would mean that people with diabetes would have to pay up to $500 a month instead of $35 a month. The challenge is to stand up to those companies and increase access to these important medicines, especially for Latinos, who have higher rates of diabetes than other groups.

Q Budget is a crucial factor in election campaigns. In your case, you are dealing with a candidate who is a millionaire and is self-funding, while you are dependent on donations. Does this give him the upper hand?

A. It's getting harder. To win elections in this country, you have to have a lot of money. And there are no limits here. I'm running against a politician who has a lot of money, and in the United States, money drives political communication. That includes a lot of misinformation and unfounded attacks. So those are the challenges I face. But voters have supported me with contributions of $5, $10, $20, and I've raised almost $15 million. Florida knows Rick Scott. He's been here for 15 years, and no amount of money is going to help him right now because his record is so damaging to the people of Florida.

Q Your father was shot, so it's no surprise that the issue of gun control is close to your heart.

A. I was 24 and doing my master's degree when I got a call that my father had been shot in Ecuador. That call changed my life and that of my family. I changed direction and wanted to work to protect our communities from violence and to ensure more justice. In Latin American countries, you lose loved ones and nothing happens. There is no justice. We don't have a strong justice system like the United States. I have met too many families who have lost loved ones to guns.

I worked at the Gifford Foundation to educate our communities and attract investment to reduce violence. There is a law we have not yet passed that does not prevent people from buying their own gun, but requires a background check. In this country, gun violence is the leading cause of death for Latino youth between the ages of 14 and 19. We have taken steps to reduce childhood cancer rates, so why not take steps to reduce violence as well?

Q Venezuela is experiencing an institutional crisis and you are calling for an international coalition to oust Nicolás Maduro. What can the United States do?

A. The United States has taken the right steps by supporting Maria Corina Machado, who was at the forefront of the opposition movement, and presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez, recognizing that he won the July 28 elections. The Venezuelan opposition must lead this international coalition to help it take power and return Venezuela to the kind of democracy it had many years ago. We must include Spain and Mexico in this coalition because they are critical to what is happening. They must get Maduro out of there. His regime is a drug regime. There are many ways to put pressure on him. We have Russia and Iran helping Maduro. We must put pressure on Russia to back down.

Q You came to the United States from Ecuador when you were 14. Puberty is not an easy age for such a big cultural change. Did you experience discrimination?

A. Yes. When I first arrived in the United States, I heard people speaking with a Spanish accent and I wanted to speak Spanish with them, but many of them didn't want to. They didn't want to have anything to do with Latinos, didn't want to recognize the Hispanic language, or be proud of their culture and race. That was a shock. I didn't understand why people should be ashamed of who they were.

I also had an accent and people laughed about it. That happens to many [Latino] People who live here. But that is underestimating us. If you get to know us, you will see that we are a people who never stop fighting. We work hard, we want to contribute to the economy and we are not looking for a free lunch. We want to have the same opportunities as the other people who live in this country. Now Latinos are the largest ethnic group and can determine the outcome of elections and I remind them not to forget that power.

Q What strategy are you pursuing to win the Latino vote?

A. Family is the most important thing to us. We want to protect our children and give them a better future. Having economic opportunity is extremely important. I talk about a bill I want to introduce in the Senate that would reduce insurance costs by 25%. I talk about education and the environment. I talk about the issues that are important to Latinos. We're not going to have everyone's voice because it's a diverse community and everyone has their own political affiliation, but if we talk to them about the issues that are important to them, they're going to come to us.

Q The immigration crisis has been at the heart of the Republican campaign and has resulted in a number of anti-immigrant measures, such as the suspension of the Parole in Place program. Anti-immigrant sentiment appears to be growing.

A. Obviously, it's grown because extremists like Rick Scott use language that criminalizes immigrants. They blame them for every problem we have. And that's not the reality. Everyone agrees that we need to invest in homeland security at the border and support the patrol officers. But we also need to take legal action to allow people to come in and continue to contribute to the American economy.

We have to go back to the time of Ronald Reagan, a Republican president who understood the contribution of immigrants. There are also immigrants fleeing violence and we have a law that grants them asylum.

Q The presence of Latinos in the upper echelons of politics and business is disproportionate to their numerical presence.

A. We are not represented as much as we should be. So I remind Latino communities that no one will advocate for them like I did, who was born in Latin America and lived under a military dictatorship. I want to sit on the Foreign Affairs Committee to give us a voice that we don't currently have. I shouldn't be the first Latina from the state of Florida to run for Senate: it's 2024. But I definitely don't want to be the last.

Q Your first job was selling donuts. Your election rival also had a business relationship with the same product.

A. I worked for minimum wage at a doughnut shop and Rick Scott bought doughnut shops to keep his mother busy. That's the difference between us. I know what it's like to have to stretch every dollar to buy your first car. It's unacceptable that we live in a country that is still the world's greatest economic and military power and the largest democracy, and yet there are families who can't pay their bills, their education or their medicine.

Q After Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance campaigned in a doughnut shop, you posted on X that you didn't think he had ever been to one because he didn't even know the names of the doughnut flavors. Was it you?

A. Of course I do. Devil's Food, my favorite, is chocolate fondant. Then there's Blaze, Sprinkles, and Bear Paw, all of which I love.

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