Florida voters will choose between incumbent Republican Rick Scott and Democratic challenger Debbie Mucarsel-Powell in the 2024 U.S. Senate election. Scott has served in the Senate since 2019 and was previously Florida’s governor. Mucarsel-Powell was U.S. representative for Florida’s 26th congressional district from 2019 to 2021 The winner of this race could determine the balance of power in the U.S. Senate.
The voter registration deadline is October 7, 2024. The mandatory early voting period is from October 26 to November 2, 2024. Some counties may offer additional voting days.
There are an estimated 886,000 LGBTQ people ages 13 and up living in Florida, with approximately 4.6% of adult Floridians identifying as LGBTQ, 24% of whom are raising children. UCLA’s Williams Institute ranks Florida as number 12 of all states with high concentrations of LGBTQ people. Florida lacks comprehensive statewide protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in areas such as employment, housing, and public accommodations.
For GLAAD’s Election 2024 fact sheet on Florida, click here.
GLAAD urges the media to include LGBTQ issues in their questions to candidates, and consider them when covering the campaign. Research on the candidates’ records on abortion is also included, as abortion is an LGBTQ issue.
Research on the candidates’ LGBTQ records includes:
Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (D)
- Co-sponsored and voted for the Equality Act during her time as U.S. Representative, saying “I stand by our LGBTQ community as their rights are on the line today. LGBTQ rights shouldn’t be up for debate. … Discrimination has no place in our country.”
- Endorsed by Florida’s leading LGBTQ rights groups including Equality Florida, SAVE Action PAC, and other leading local and regional advocates and organizations. Nadine Smith called her a “champion” and “a tough and highly effective fighter for equality and fairness.” SAVE’s executive director called her “a true ally” with a “commitment to equality and fairness.”
- Earned a 100% on the Human Rights Campaign’s Congressional Scorecard and in its endorsement of her, HRC said that she is “a champion for access to affordable health care, expanded economic opportunities, equality for all, and has been a crucial leader in the fight to end the scourge of gun violence in America.”
- Marched in the most recent Pride parade in Miami Beach, saying “It is fundamentally important to support the LGBTQ+ community in the face of vile attacks on their freedoms.”
- Opposes Florida’s six-week abortion ban and has made reproductive freedom a core part of her campaign, calling access to abortion “central to freedom, to the dignity of a woman, to democracy … such an important pillar of the freedoms we have here in this country.”
Sen. Rick Scott (R)
- Voted against the Respect for Marriage Act in 2022, which codified the freedom to marry for same-sex and interracial couples into federal law, claiming it fails to “adequately protect the religious liberties of all Americans.“
- Authored a “12 Point Plan” in which he denies the existence of transgender people and calls for federal proposals restricting LGB and especially transgender rights, saying “Men and women are biologically different, ‘male and female He created them .. There are two genders.”
- Called for nationwide bans on health care for transgender youth and on transgender women and girls participating on sports teams that match who they are.
- Opposes inclusion of LGBTQ people on government forms.
- Previously said he would sign a six-week abortion ban into law and previously supported a national ban on abortion.
- Supports anti-LGBTQ extremist book-banning group Moms for Liberty, including appearing at their first and second annual conventions, further disproving the group’s false claim as a “grassroots” organization. The group helped push Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill into law. Scott praised Moms for Liberty and claimed its backed candidates would help keep control of the Senate in the 2022 midterm elections. Moms for Liberty-connected candidates were defeated in the 2022 midterms, and have been repeatedly rejected in school board and other elections including recent races in Florida.
- Supported, then withdrew support, for Florida GOP chair Christian Ziegler, husband of Moms for Liberty co-founder Bridget Ziegler, when Christian was accused of sexual assault against a women the Zieglers were have a three-way sexual relationship with. Florida taxpayers paid out $21 million to defend “Don’t Say Gay” and other discriminatory, unconstitutional attacks against LGBTQ and ally Floridians.
- Endorsed, in August 2024, the Naples Moms for Liberty chapter chair for a Florida House seat.