Scott spent $64M of his own money on Senate bid
Gov. Rick Scott spent almost $64 million of his own money to win by just 0.08 percentage points in his U.S. Senate race, according to Thursday’s latest campaign filing with the Federal Election Commission.
The final tally includes more than $12 million Scott personally spent in the final few weeks of the campaign, money that went in part toward ads shoring up his foothold in the Hispanic community and pledging to force insurance companies to cover pre-existing health conditions.
In the end, Scott contributed more than 75 percent of the nearly $83 million his campaign took in. The New Republican PAC spent an additional $28 million backing Scott, the largest total independent expenditure on the campaign.
Scott’s opponent, Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, raised a little over $25 million as of mid-October. But his campaign was helped by more than $33 million in combined spending from PACs ranging from the Democratic Senate Majority PAC to Priorities USA Action.
The $64 million Scott spent in 2018 still doesn’t approach the nearly $78 million he personally spent in 2010 to win his first race for governor. In 2014, he only spent about $13 million in his reelection bid.
Overall, Scott has spent more than $150 million to win his three races for governor and U.S. Senator – none of which he won by more than 1.2 percentage points. He defeated Nelson by just more than 10,000 votes of 8.2 million cast.
Thankfully for Scott’s bank account, he doesn’t come for reelection in the Senate until 2024 – though he could be interested in another, even more expensive race that presidential year.