Democratic Senate hopeful proposes 'pausing' filibuster for abortion and voting rights
Florida Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell is leaning into abortion rights in her underdog campaign against GOP Sen. Rick Scott.
MIAMI — Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, the leading Democratic candidate to take on Sen. Rick Scott of Florida this fall, said she would support pushing aside the Senate filibuster to pass a handful of policy measures, including federal protections for abortion.
“Democracy is 50-plus-one, and for certain issues, I am very much in favor of pausing the filibuster and voting for a woman’s right to choose to codify Roe v. Wade,” Mucarsel-Powell, a former House member from the Miami area, said in an interview Wednesday after a news conference at which she addressed the implementation of Florida’s six-week abortion ban.
Mucarsel-Powell said she would also support undoing the filibuster, which requires 60 Senate votes to advance most legislation, to pass federal voting rights protections and gun measures.
Pressed about whether she would support completely removing the filibuster without the possibility of reinstalling it, Mucarsel-Powell demurred.
“I have to think about that,” she said, adding that the filibuster has “been there for quite some time” and that she would “need to understand the implications” before she decided whether to support permanently removing it.
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