Rick Scott makes the case for Byron Donalds as poll shows him tied with David Jolly

LARGO — When it comes to winning close statewide elections, no one has been more successful in Florida than Rick Scott.

The senior Republican U.S. senator won three straight contests for governor and senator in the 2010s by a single percentage point before enjoying a rare blow-out reelection victory by 13 points two years ago.

Scott appeared Thursday with GOP gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds in Pinellas County. He urged the crowd to vote as soon as possible, just as a new public opinion survey showed Donalds in a dead heat with Democrat David Jolly.

“If you have your mail-in ballot, get it in today. You know why? Because this campaign has to spend money to make sure you get your mail-in ballot in. The earlier you vote, they’re going to stop bugging with all of those texts and the phone calls. And you’re going to save them money, the campaign money,” Scott said at Veterans Metal, a finishing and manufacturing company  in Largo.

A St. Pete Polls survey of the governor’s race released Thursday of 836 likely Florida voters shows the race in a statistical tie with Donalds at 44.7% and Jolly at 44.6%. The survey has a margin for error of +/- 3.4%.

That’s in contrast to an NBC6/Telemundo Station Group poll of 625 registered Florida voters conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy released Wednesday that shows Donalds up 48%-41% over Jolly, with 1% supporting an independent candidate and 10% undecided. The margin for error with that poll was +/- 4%.

The Black vote

Two campaign ads for Donalds have been airing this week touting his endorsements by Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis. But he modulated that partisan pitch Thursday, saying his message is for all Floridians.

“As a Republican, so much is made about, ‘Oh, these Republicans, they only care about big business,” he said. “In Florida, we know that there is no economy without our environment. You have to protect the environment if you’re going to have a viable economy. The two work together.”

He pivoted to saying he had recently spoken with a reporter who asked him why he was working so hard to court Black voters.

“I said, ‘Typically, Republican campaigns don’t do the amount of work we’ve been doing talking to Black voters,” he said. “Honestly, most political consultants are only concerned about getting the candidate to 50% plus one, because 50% plus one is all you need to win the seat. But I’m not interested in 50% plus one. I’m interested in 100%.”

The Jolly campaign began the day by announcing former North Florida Democratic U.S. House member and state lawmaker Al Lawson has announced his support for Jolly. Lawson was the first Black politician since Reconstruction to win a North Florida legislative seat in a predominantly white district when he was elected to the Florida House in 1982.

“I’m proud to support David Jolly for Governor because David believes everyone who works hard deserves more than a daily struggle to survive. They deserve a home they can afford and a fair chance to build a better life,” Lawson said in a press release.

“And to those who in the Black community who think Byron Donalds has changed, don’t fall for it,” he added.

Lawson called on Black voters to look closely at Donalds’ voting record before casting their ballots, noting that he voted against the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and called the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling undoing a section of the Voting Rights Act a ‘major win.’”

“Byron Donalds is one of Donald Trump’s biggest sycophants, and there is no daylight between the two,” Lawson said. “Let’s be clear — if you support Byron Donalds, you support Donald Trump.”

If elected, Donalds would make history as the first Black Republican elected governor in the United States. Three Black Democratic governors have been elected — Doug Wilder, Deval Patrick, and Wes Moore).