Rick Scott personally gave $64 million to a Senate race he almost didn't win

(Image credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

published 6 December 2018

It took $82 million for Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) to just barely unseat incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) in 2018's midterm elections.

But most of those millions didn't come from eager donors. They came from Scott's own pockets, Federal Election Commission filings released Thursday show.

Scott gave $63.5 million of his own money to his 2018 Senate run, FEC filings reveal. Donors racked up less than a third of that, donating $18 million total. Political Action Committees gave a little less than $2 million to Scott as well. That meant Scott had $82.5 million at his disposal, but still found it necessary to baselessly claim voter fraud had tainted the race before he eked out a win weeks after voters went to the polls.

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Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.

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