The Florida Senate race — the country's most expensive contest this year and one of its most bitter — was too close to call early Wednesday with a potential recount ahead, according to NBC News projections.
Florida's Republican Gov. Rick Scott led Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson by less than half a percentage point with nearly all votes counted. The margin, if it sticks, would trigger a mandatory recount in the state.
Scott piled more than $50 million of his own money into the race. Both sides saturated the airwaves with attacks ads, treating Florida voters to one of the most rancorous races of the 2018 midterms. In their one and only debate, Scott, who is leaving the governor's office because of term limits, slammed Nelson by saying he had accomplished little during his decades in the Senate on issues ranging from the environment to immigration to Cuba relations.
Nelson pointed to his voting record, including his support for a comprehensive immigration reform bill that passed the Senate six years ago but died in the Republican-led House. He also attacked Scott's negative television ads, saying they had been found to be false by fact-checking organizations and press accounts.
Amid the attacks and counterattacks, there was some discussion of issues. Health care and gun safety were among the most important issues to Democratic voters, according to a Marist-NBC News poll. Republicans said they cared most about immigration, then health care, then foreign policy. Most observers had called the race a toss-up from the beginning.
While Nelson won his re-election bid in 2012 by a margin of 13 points against Republican Rep. Connie Mack IV, the state has a strong record of swinging from one party to the other. President Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election by 1.2 percentage points, while Barack Obama won the state in 2012 by 0.9 percentage points and in 2008 by 2.8 percentage points.
Florida's Senate race was the most expensive of the 2018 midterms, with nearly than $100 million spent as of the latest campaign finance filings. Much of that money came from outside groups, most of it spent on attack ads from both sides.
Scott, a multimillionaire former health care executive, spent heavily from his own pocket, including an $11 million infusion in the last weeks of the campaign. More than $42 million was spent by dozens of political action committees on behalf of Nelson's campaign, both on ads supporting the incumbent senator and those attacking his Republican opponents. For their part, Republican outside groups spent more than $20 million on behalf of Scott, most of it attacking Nelson.
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