Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) conceded the Florida Senate race to Governor Rick Scott (R-FL) Sunday, bringing an end to his re-election race after a 12-day statewide recount.
Nelson trailed Scott by 12,603 votes on election night; he came up 10,033 votes short after a manual recount.
Rick Scott
“Now the campaign is truly behind us, and that’s where we need to leave it,” Scott said in a statement released Sunday. “We must do what Americans have always done: Come together for the good of our state and our country.”
Nelson is the fourth Democratic incumbent to lose their Senate seat this election cycle. Sens. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), Joe Donnelly (D-IN) and Claire McCaskill (D-MO) were also unsuccessful in their re-election bids in states that President Donald Trump won during the 2016 election.
Scott’s win gives Senate Republicans a 52-to-47 margin, which could increase to 53-to-47 if Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-AL) wins the Nov. 27 runoff election.
