Rick Scott fundraises off Trump claim that Dems are trying to steal election

Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s Senate campaign is fundraising off President Trump’s claim that Democrats are trying to steal the state’s Senate election.

The race with Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) is in a recount, as Scott clings to a slim lead of under 13,000 votes.

The fundraising email, presented as a letter from Trump’s desk, says Democrats have brought in former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s lawyer “and are attempting to steal this seat so they can further obstruct our America First agenda.”

{mosads}The email states that this has been seen before, in the aftermath of the presidential campaign in 2000, when votes were recounted between Democrat Al Gore and Republican George W. Bush. 

“We cannot let the radical left steal this seat from the people of Florida. We need to come together and support Rick. I’m asking Republicans from all over the country to chip in to his recount fund to make sure he has all the resources he needs to make sure all votes in Florida are fairly counted,” the letter states.

The email marks the latest example of Trump accusing Democrats of attempting to steal the election between Scott and Nelson. He has made the same claim in the gubernatorial race between Democrat Andrew Gillum and Republican Ron DeSantis.

Trump, who has accused election officials in Florida of committing fraud, on Monday called for the elections to be called in favor of DeSantis and Scott, saying that an “honest vote count is no longer possible.”

“The Florida Election should be called in favor of Rick Scott and Ron DeSantis in that large numbers of new ballots showed up out of nowhere, and many ballots are missing or forged,” Trump tweeted. “An honest vote count is no longer possible-ballots massively infected. Must go with Election Night!”

As of Monday, Scott held a lead of about 12,500 votes, or roughly 0.15 percentage point, over Nelson. In the gubernatorial race, DeSantis led Gillum by more than 33,000 votes, or 0.41 point.