Miles Davis PHOTO COURTESY OF MILES DAVIS

Miami–The shakeup at Democratic Party of Florida months before one of the biggest U.S. Presidential elections in history has some Democratic candidates fine-tuning their campaigns for U.S. Senate, Congress, state House of Representatives and state Senate.

Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, a Democrat challenging Republican U.S. Senator Rick Scott, has hired Miles Davis as her campaign director in an effort to build a stronger drive against her formidable opponent who’s backed by the GOP’s massive support and big corporations.

Mucarsel-Powell, a former one-term U.S. Congresswoman, is the front runner for the Democratic nomination but faces an uphill battle against Scott, who has, so far, raised $18.6 million.

Mucarsel-Powell has raised over $1.5 million for her campaign.

Davis, who was a chief of staff for Democratic state Senator Shervin Jones from West Park and left to become director of voting rights at America Votes in Central and South Florida, was tapped to give Mucarsel-Powell’s campaign a boost for the August primaries and November general election.

Davis, 28, said the campaign is focused on connecting with federal, state and local government officials for support and additional tours to reach voters in Central and Southwest Florida.

Mucarsel-Powell’s campaign will also make stops in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties to underscore the importance of voting in the upcoming elections to help Democrats flip seats and stay in political office.

Davis said the campaign is strong enough to challenge her opponents in August and Scott in November.

“The momentum is strong as we are seeing a crowd of at least 2,000 people at campaign events,” Davis told the South Florida Times. “With the recent ruling in the Supreme Court on abortion, challenging him [Scott] on the issues building the case for Debbie.”

Davis, who was once state Rep. Dianne Hart’s legislative director, said despite Scott’s massive war chest, Mucarsel-Powell’s chances of unseating the incumbent senator from Ft. Myers is improving.

“Fundraising is important without a doubt,”(sic) he said. “But the issues are more important.”

Davis has played pivotal roles in Florida Democratic politics including with Jones’ office and at America Votes.

Davis also was a legislative director for state Rep. Dianne Hart and worked for the Florida Democratic Party as a statewide deputy political director and held the same position at Downballot Elections.

In 2018, he managed now-state Rep. Yvonne Hinson’s Congressional campaign.

Mucarsel-Powell’s campaign is focused on Florida families having access to affordable housing, healthcare, and economic opportunities.

She’s been critical of Scott, who she believes wants to sunset Medicare and Social Security and raise taxes on middle-class families.

In an effort to score political points with the Black community, MucarselPowell lashed out at Republicans for efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, banning books chronicling Black History and altering African American history classes in public schools.

After the Supreme Court recent ruling upholding Florida’s ban on most abortions 15 weeks into pregnancy which also triggered a more restrictive ban on most abortions at six weeks, both Mucarsel-Powell and Scott were on different sides of the spectrum.

 

She said Floridians don’t want restrictions on abortions and expects voters in November to make it clear by not re-electing Scott.

Mucarsel-Powell voiced outrage over the law, which she called a political “game changer.”

“It’s one of the most extreme bans on abortion, really a totally near ban on access to reproductive health care, which is going to put tens of thousands of women here in the state and also in the Southeast region at risk,” she said. “I’m concerned that it’s going to compromise the safety of young woman. It has hardly any exceptions to rape and incest. Also, we have seen a rise in maternal mortality rates, particularly for Black women.”

Scott said he opposes the November ballot to strike down Florida’s sixweek abortion ban but thinks Congress should leave those decisions to the states.

Mucarsel-Powell has some ground to make up in her Senate Race against Scott.

According to an Emerson College poll conducted on April 9 and 10, Scott appears poised to defeat his Democratic opponent, backed by 45 percent of respondents, with Mucarsel-Powell at 38 percent, and 17 percent more say they are undecided.

Davis coming on board comes with the Florida Democratic Party experienced a setback when Chair Nikki Fried suspended Miami-Dade Democratic Party Chair Robert Dempster, Palm Beach Democratic Party Chair Mindy Koch and Franklin County Democratic Chair Carol Barfield claiming they failed to comply with the state’s party’s rules and bylaws.

The party’s central committee upheld the removal of Dempster and Barfield but returned Koch to her position.