Incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson is getting outspent, outhustled and outshined in Florida, causing fear and anxiety within the Democratic Party that he is poised to lose to GOP challenger Gov. Rick Scott in November, Politico reports.
A Nelson loss would be the death knell to the Dems' already slim chances of retaking the majority in the Senate.
Scott's campaign has spent $27 million thus far to Nelson's $6 million, painting the septuagenarian as "old and tired" and "confused." Further, the Nelson campaign has just this quarter begun to get serious about online fundraising while Scott has poured nearly $21 million of his own money into his campaign, Politico reports.
The results: Polls show Scott with the edge; the RealClearPolitics composite average has Scott running with a 1.5-point lead.
But while Democratic operatives and strategists fret, the Nelson campaign seems unfazed and continues to go about its business.
"Nelson believes that if you just do your job and, as he’s always done, treat public office as a public trust, the politics will take care of itself," his campaign told Politico.
However, the next few weeks are crucial for Nelson to show a pulse.
If Nelson continues to drop in the polls, national Democrats may be forced to pull monies out of Florida and into other battleground races where they are vulnerable. Senate Democrats are defending a third more seats than Republicans, including 10 in states that President Donald Trump won by double digits.
"The truth is, if the numbers look like he’s going down, they’re going to pull back," Sen. Jon Tester of Montana, the 2016 Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee chairman, told Politico.
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