MIAMI — Governor Rick Scott made official on Monday what Floridians have suspected for months: He is running for the US Senate against Bill Nelson, the incumbent Democrat.
The premier race will return the nation’s largest swing state to its familiar role as the political vortex of a tumultuous election year.
“This is going to be a lot of fun,’’ Scott, wearing his usual Navy baseball cap, said in an announcement on Facebook Live from an Orlando construction company, before embarking on the kind of statewide tour that has become his signature over two terms as governor. “We’re going to make sure that Washington works for us.’’
With his formal entry into the campaign, Scott, a 65-year-old Republican, made Florida a centerpiece of the midterm elections. The state will feature one of the most expensive Senate races in the country, as well as an open governor’s race and up to a half-dozen competitive House races.
The contest between Nelson and Scott alone is expected to cost at least $100 million.
Scott, a former health care executive, invested millions of dollars of his own money into his successful campaigns for governor in 2010 and 2014.
The Florida Senate battle will be a microcosm of national Republicans’ fight to keep control of Congress under President Trump, whose policies and demeanor have invigorated Democratic voters.
Nelson is one of 10 Democratic senators seeking reelection in states Trump won in 2016, and Republicans have repeatedly bested Democrats in most statewide Florida midterm races since 2006 — though Nelson’s win was one of two Democratic victories that year.
“I’ve always run every race like there’s no tomorrow — regardless of my opponent,’’ Nelson said in a statement Monday. “While it’s clear that Rick Scott will say or do anything to get elected, I’ve always believed that if you just do the right thing, the politics will take care of itself.’’
The president had publicly encouraged Scott, who chaired a super political action committee for Trump during the 2016 campaign, to get into the race.
Scott, however, did not mention the president in his announcement, possibly to distance himself from a national environment that could be unfavorable to the GOP.
“The last three midterm elections have all been referendums of the president,’’ said Steve Schale, a Democratic strategist in Tallahassee.
Schale cautioned that the dynamics of the 2018 race would be fluid until October, but added: “If you want to send a message to Trump, are you going to do it by voting for his biggest champion in the Southeast? Rick Scott can’t change the fact that Trump has a 40 percent national approval rating, and that’s what’s driving people to vote.’’
In Scott, Nelson faces the toughest challenger of his Senate career, which began in 2001 after stints in the House. Despite his many years of political experience, Nelson, 75, remains unknown to some voters. A February poll conducted by Jacksonville-based Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy found that 12 percent of respondents did not know the senator’s name, compared with 3 percent who did not recognize Scott’s.
