Democratic Senate campaign chief ‘encouraged’ by races in Florida, Texas

Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chair Gary Peters (D-Mich.) said Tuesday that he was “encouraged” by the party’s Senate campaigns in Texas and Florida. 

“I’m very encouraged with what I see in those states,” Peters told reporters at the Democratic National Convention. “We have very strong Democratic candidates.” 

Peters called Texas Senate candidate Rep. Colin Allred (D) a “dynamic individual who is getting great traction in his campaign.”

“We’re already seeing in the polling data a very close race,” he continued. “Same thing happening in Florida.”

Peters’s remarks came as former Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (D-Fla.) formally clinched her party’s Senate nomination in Florida. 

“Rick Scott has never won an election by very much to begin with, it’s always a tight race,” Peters said, referring to the incumbent Republican senator. “So we would expect a tight race again.”

While Democratic statewide victories in Florida and Texas would be an uphill prospect for Democrats, polling suggests that the Senate races there are tightening.

Last month, a survey from the University of Houston and Texas Southern University showed Allred trailing Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) by 3 percentage points. However, The Hill’s Decision Desk polling average shows Cruz leading Allred by 6 points. 

In Florida, two polls in recent weeks showed Scott leading Mucarsel-Powell by 4 points. The Hill/Decision Desk HQ polling average shows Scott leading by roughly 6 points as well.

Peters said he believes Vice President Harris’s placement at the top of the party’s ticket could be having a positive impact on these two races.