“Incumbent Rick Scott, a Republican, reportedly banned the words ‘climate change’ from state agencies as governor. Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell favors climate-resilient infrastructure.”

Last week, as millions of Floridians fled Hurricane Milton, Inside Climate News laid out the stakes of defeating climate denier Rick Scott. As Governor, Scott infamously banned state agencies from using the words ‘climate change,’ accepted millions in campaign contributions from the fossil fuel industry, and invested millions of his personal wealth in oil and gas companies, including those with interests in front of the state. 

In the Senate, Scott voted against $1.5 billion for infrastructure projects to make Florida more resilient to climate change and extreme weather. Even as Florida is battered by record storms, Scott has refused to acknowledge the scientific consensus that climate change is making hurricanes worse. 

Click here to read the full story. See key excerpts below: 

• While leading the state, Scott focused on jobs and transformed Florida’s policy on the environment and climate. He gutted environmental efforts such as Florida Forever, the state’s land conservation program, and dismantled the Department of Community Affairs, eliminating state oversight of local planning decisions.

• Most notably he reportedly banned Department of Environmental Protection staffers from using the words “climate change” or “global warming” in official communications or reports, making him a punchline of late-night comedians.

• When asked about his views on the climate, Scott was known to say he was “not a scientist,” prompting a group of climate scientists to reach out in 2014 for a meeting.

• “I think he’s kind of in denial about the effects that climate change are going to have on the economy and the well-being of the United States and Florida. And I would say that is pretty short-sighted because Florida is one of the more vulnerable states in the country to climate change,” [said Jeff Chanton, professor in the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science at Florida State University].

• Floridians are more likely than other Americans to believe climate change is happening and support government actions to address it, surveys show. One recent survey from Florida Atlantic University found that 90 percent of respondents believed climate change was real, compared with 70 percent of Americans who answered similarly on a separate Yale University survey.

• That may be because Florida is uniquely vulnerable to the consequences of climate change, especially hotter temperatures, rising seas and more damaging storms. In the last seven years the state has weathered six major hurricanes. “Climate policy is important to Florida. We’re the canary in the coal mine, and we’re the most sensitive to rises in sea level and hurricanes,” Chanton said.