ICYMI: Democrats embrace Rick Scott as midterm boogeyman [The Hill]

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

The Hill: Democrats embrace Rick Scott as midterm boogeyman
By Jordain Carney
April 20, 2022

Key Points:

• Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Scott’s Democratic campaign counterpart, said Democrats would keep Scott’s plan in focus into November as they work to save their majority in the 50-50 Senate.

• “It’s a Republican plan put out by the chairperson of the Republican campaign committee. So it’s certainly an issue that needs to be raised,” Peters said in a brief interview.

• Democrats launched their latest front in trying to make sure voters are aware of Scott’s plan this week.

• The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), which Peters heads, went up with billboards featuring Scott — as well as Sens. Marco Rubio (Fla.) and Ron Johnson (Wis.), both of whom are up for reelection — saying “Senate Republicans’ Plan: Raise Your Taxes.”

• Late last month, the DSCC launched a digital ad featuring part of an interview where Scott discussed his plan. The six-figure ad targeted older voters in states critical to the battle for the Senate: Arizona, Georgia, New Hampshire, Nevada, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Florida.

• A five-figure radio ad launched by the DSCC last month spring-boarded off Scott’s plan, without directly mentioning the Florida Republican, with a narrator saying, “this just in, Republicans have released their plan if they win the Senate: It’s to raise taxes on over 50 percent of Americans.” The group’s announcement of the ads linked to a Washington Post analysis on Scott’s plan.

• The focus on Scott is also coming from the Democratic National Committee (DNC), which released a digital ad this week targeting Google searches for tax services with Monday’s tax filing deadline. The ad links to a website, GOPtaxhike.com, run by the DSCC that “breaks down who could pay more under NRSC Chair Rick Scott and Republicans’ tax plan,” according to the DNC’s announcement on the ad.

• A poll conducted on behalf of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee found that a majority of battleground state voters would be less likely to support Republicans if the GOP moved to end Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

• Sixty-five percent of respondents said they would be less likely to support the GOP “If Senate Republicans have a new plan that would end Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security in five years,” according to the poll, which was conducted by Blue Rose Research.

• Democrats have seized on two pieces of the plan as endorsing it in practice:  One section of Scott’s 11-point plan says that “All Americans should pay some income tax to have skin in the game, even if a small amount,” fueling Democrats’ tax attacks.

• Another part states that, “All federal legislation sunsets in 5 years. If a law is worth keeping, Congress can pass it again.”

• Some GOP candidates have also embraced parts of the plan — statements that haven’t escaped Democrats’ notice. And Scott hasn’t shied away from touting his agenda.

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