Scott features Stoneman Douglas father in latest Senate race TV ad
Rick Scott’s campaign for U.S. Senate released a TV ad on Monday that features a testimonial from Andrew Pollack, whose daughter Meadow was killed in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre.
The new ad is entitled “Meadow.”
It is stark and affecting and doesn’t include the dramatic music often featured in political ads. At one minute, it’s twice as long as most political spots.
It consists entirely of Pollack speaking, except for Scott’s voice giving the legally required disclosure at the end about approving the content of the message.
It’s mostly Pollack talking directly to the camera, interspersed with still photographs of his daughter, the school and Scott, who is currently governor and is prohibited from seeking a third term because of term limits. Scott is challenging U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., who is running for a fourth term.
The spot begins with Pollack recounting how he constantly thinks of his daughter and his loss. “I might as well have been buried with her because I’ll never be the same.
“I put my mind into working, so I picked a battle that we’ll all agree on, no matter what party you’re affiliated with — and that’s protecting our kids in the schools,” he added.
Pollack said Scott was someone who helped him focus on that objective. “The governor said to me numerous times, ‘Andy, just stay focused. Don’t get distracted and stick to your mission,’” Pollack said.
He credits Scott for helping secure passage of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act weeks after the massacre.
The law enhanced school security, raised the minimum age to buy rifles and shotguns from 18 to 21, extended the previous three-day waiting period for handgun purchases to include long guns and banned bump stocks that allow firearms to perform like automatic weapons.
“Rick Scott wasn’t worried about the politics that came with that bill and he did what he thought was right,” Pollack said. “We need a politician that’s to do what’s right.”
Pollack also extolls his candidate. “I truly believe that Rick Scott loves this country,” he said.
Families of people who were killed in the Stoneman Douglas massacre are divided over the Senate race. Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter Jaime was killed at the school, and Mitchell Dworet, whose son, Nicholas, was killed, have endorsed Nelson’s re-election.
Pollack has become politically outspoken since the Feb. 14 shooting at the Parkland school that killed 17 people and injured 17.
He has frequently appeared with Scott at official government events and at political gatherings.
When Scott formally announced going his Senate candidacy in Orlando in April, Pollack was there, standing immediately behind Scott.
At the Broward County Republican Party’s annual Lincoln Day dinner in May, Pollack said his two political priorities for 2018 were the August School Board elections “and getting my friend Rick Scott elected to the Senate.”
On Sunday, speaking to a group in Plantation, Republican gubernatorial nominee Ron DeSantis said he’s been working with Pollack on ideas to further improve school safety. DeSantis said he recently attended the private unveiling of Meadow Pollack’s tombstone.