On August 23rd, new reporting from Axios Tampa Bay revealed that Rick Scott is doubling down on his “long history of election denialism.” Scott likened Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s stolen election to the 2020 U.S. Presidential election, and is peddling conspiracy theories about illegal immigrants voting in U.S. elections. Scott also continues to spew baseless claims of fraud in his 2018 election, which paved the way for him to side with January 6th rioters by voting to overturn the results of the 2020 Presidential election. 

Click here to read the article. See key excerpts below: 

• Scott has a long history of election denialism, and as some polls show his race against Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell heating up, so are his claims of widespread fraud.

• At a campaign stop in Pinecrest last Friday, Scott likened Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s contested victory to the 2020 U.S. presidential election. “We just had an election stolen in Venezuela. So what did Biden say yesterday? ‘Oh, we should have a new election,'” Scott said. “Well, I didn’t like the election in 2020 in the United States. Could we get a new election?”

• If Democrats win in November, “They won’t have to commit fraud to win elections anymore because they’ll just let every illegal immigrant vote,” he told attendees at the Sarasota Pie Rally.

• Scott’s campaign spokesperson Will Hampson wouldn’t tell Axios whether Scott intends to accept the outcome of the 2024 election.

• Scott began alleging voter fraud after his Senate election in 2018, and former President Trump boosted those claims. Besides Trump, Scott was one of the only other notable Republicans to use such rhetoric at the time. Scott then voted against the certification of Pennsylvania’s election results in 2020.