For Rick Scott, it’s time to get to work.
The Republican outsider largely unknown a year ago overcame a past tied to a massive health care fraud case with personal wealth that allowed him to run the most expensive gubernatorial campaign in state history, and on Wednesday won with the help of a national conservative tide.
Scott, whose catchy signature phrase of “Let’s Get to Work,” ran ubiquitously on television, thanks to the $73 million he spent, convinced just a tiny bit over half those who voted that, he has the best plan for putting the state back to work as unemployment continues to hamper Florida’s recovery.
But he had to wait a day to claim victory over Democrat Alex Sink as votes trickled in overnight with the candidates nearly deadlocked. It finished as the closest governor’s race in state history after Sink conceded early Wednesday, saying the voters weren’t going to be there.
In a 10-minute victory speech, Scott was relatively conciliatory toward Democratic supporters of the vanquished Sink, who he had lashed to President Obama throughout the campaign.
He also indirectly acknowledged that his razor-thin win – on a night when most other Republicans breezed to victory – was far from a clear mandate.
“To everyone watching who voted for my opponent, I know I have some work to do to earn your support,” Scott said at the Fort Lauderdale waterside hotel where he’d encamped since Election Night.
But he assured, “Starting today, I work for every Floridian. And today is the end of politics as usual in Tallahassee.”
Winning his first bid for elected office, Scott, 57, will likely get little time to begin making good on his promises to create jobs, freeze state regulations, lower property-taxes and launch another round of lawsuit-limiting civil justice changes.
In a state with unemployment near 12 percent and the state’s foreclosure rate among the nation’s highest, Republicans say they know they have to embrace Scott’s “let’s get to work” campaign theme.
Sen. Garrett Richter, R-Naples, said Tuesday’s elections made it plain that Floridians want changes – fast.
“People have given us the keys to the car,” Richter said. “They want it put in drive. If we leave it in park, they’re going to come back and say, `give us the keys back.'”
Scott also tried to reach out to those voters Wednesday.
“As I’ve traveled this state, I’ve talked to so many people who have lost their jobs, who have lost their homes, and many who’ve just lost all hope,” Scott said. “Some are beginning to wonder if anyone in Tallahassee can turn things around.
“To them, and to thousands of Floridians who are hurting, I say, `Don’t give up.’ I give you my word, better days are coming,” Scott said.
Voter turnout statewide on Tuesday was 48 percent, about the same as the last governor’s race in 2006.
Of the 5.2 million votes cast,, Scott got 49 percent, and Sink 48 percent.
The keys to Scott’s victory on Election Day were in lower than usual voter turnout in traditionally Democratic Broward County – where Sink won by a nearly 2-1 margin but didn’t get enough overall votes there – and in Sink’s home county of Hillsborough, which she barely won.
Sink got just 50.07 percent of the vote in Hillsborough County, to 46.7 percent for Scott, whose hometown is relatively remote Naples, a small Republican enclave in southwest Florida.
Democrats said they just couldn’t excite voters in a year in which national pundits have been saying for months that conservatives would sweep the November elections. The ebbing popularity of President Obama didn’t help either.
Scott’s showing in her hometown and low turnout in Broward canceled out the fact that Sink won easily in populous Miami-Dade County, 56 percent to 42 percent. The county’s heavy Hispanic population generally is reliably Republican, but Scott may have had trouble with Hispanic voters because of his strong rhetoric on immigration enforcement. Sink also won Osceola County, which has a large Hispanic population and easily won Orange County, which includes Orlando, and has a large Puerto Rican population.
Voters also apparently weren’t overly concerned about Scott’s past – which was a major theme of the Sink campaign. Scott was the CEO of hospital chain Columbia/HCA, which paid $1.7 billion in fraud fines and settlements three years after he left. Another company in which he is an investor, Solantic, has also been under investigation.
Scott is expected to return to his Naples home Wednesday night, but by Thursday plans to be back in Fort Lauderdale, where he is setting up his transition office. Advisors say he plans to reach out to private sector executives and government leaders in other states to fill the dozens of agency and administration posts he’ll be filling in the weeks leading to his January inauguration.
Some members of his campaign staff expected to join state government. Jen Baker, who led his communications team until departing for maternity leave around the time Scott won the Republican primary, is likely to serve a similar role with the new administration.
Rep. Rich Glorioso, R-Plant City, acknowledged that he’s interested in working in the new administration – possibly in a role with the state’s Transportation Department, although he said he’s had no such discussions with Scott.
“I think a lot of us share the same thinking when it comes to improving state government,” Glorioso said.
The $73 million that Scott spent to blanket the airwaves in an effort to bypass traditional news media and appeal directly to voters was too much to overcome, Sink acknowledged Wednesday.
“We lost because of forces beyond our control,” Sink said. “Between the money and the mood of the country, those were the two forces beyond our control.”
Scott made light for the first time of the massive amount of money he spent on the race on Wednesday when he introduced daughters Allison and Jordan to the crowd watching his victory speech.
“They might have lost a little bit of their inheritance,” Scott said, drawing the speech’s biggest laugh and applause.
By John Kennedy and David Royse
The News Service of Florida
