Exclusive: Debbie Mucarsel-Powell on Venezuela, Immigration and Rick Scott

Democratic Senate candidate Debbie Mucarsel-Powell believes the United States needs to take a strong stance against the regime of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, despite her Republican opponent, Senator Rick Scott of Florida, attempting to paint her as a “socialist.”
While the U.S. has long opposed and sanctioned Maduro’s regime, the issue has come to a head over the past month following the disputed results of Venezuela’s July 28 election. Opposition candidate Edmundo González and his movement’s leader, María Corina Machado, said the results were fraudulent and that Maduro lost.
The U.S., European Union and numerous Latin American nations have disputed Maduro’s victory. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last month there was “overwhelming evidence” that González won. The Venezuelan attorney general’s office said on Monday that an arrest warrant had been issued for Gonzalez, a move quickly condemned by the U.S. and several Latin American nations.
“The situation is dire. We’ve already seen 7 million Venezuelans who have left that country in the past few years,” Mucarsel-Powell, who served one term in the House of Representatives from 2019 to 2021, told Newsweek in an interview on Friday, prior to the news of the arrest warrant. She said that the U.S. needs to “form a very strong coalition” to stand against Maduro and his regime.
As Mucarsel-Powell has been repeatedly speaking out against the unfolding situation in Venezuela, Scott has been describing her as a “socialist.” She dismisses the attacks, pointing out that, as someone who moved to the U.S. after living under a military dictatorship in Ecuador, she understands the stakes much better than he does. She’s also willing to call out fellow Democrats who speak favorably of socialism.
“They’re completely ignorant of the fact that those socialist policies that they somehow think have been beneficial have destroyed the political, social and economic institutions in Cuba and Nicaragua, in Venezuela,” she said.
Mucarsel-Powell spoke with Newsweek in an exclusive Zoom interview on Friday to discuss the situation in Venezuela, immigration issues and how she rejects her Republican opponent’s attacks. The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Newsweek: One of the things that we want to talk about is Venezuela. What is your view on the situation there, and how do you think that the U.S. should be responding?
Mucarsel-Powell: What we’re seeing in Venezuela is extremely dangerous. Right now we have the narco regime, which is what I’ve called it for years now, the socialist dictatorship of Maduro trying to steal an election, an election that was very clear, not only to the Venezuelan people, but to the international community, that Edmundo González won that election. He should be the duly-elected president of Venezuela.
What we’re seeing in these past few weeks is that Maduro is refusing to recognize the results of that election. He has been targeting the opposition. He has been making threats of imprisoning Edmundo González and María Corina Machado. We know for a fact that many Venezuelans have already been imprisoned for speaking out. I have family, actually, in Venezuela—have very good friends that live in Venezuela and there’s this extended family member who is a journalist who is extremely worried and scared.
The most important thing that we need to do from the United States standpoint is make sure that we support and recognize Edmundo González as the duly-elected president. We need to also ensure that we bring and form a very strong coalition, not only here in the countries in this hemisphere that include Mexico, but also the international community. In Europe, the EU [European Union] is also recognizing the results of this election as Edmundo González being the winner of the election. We need to put pressure on countries like Spain, who have wavered a bit as it pertains to allowing Maduro to remain in power. We have to make sure that we target the military, the generals that are surrounding Maduro right now that are allowing him to remain in office.
The situation is dire. We’ve already seen 7 million Venezuelans who have left that country in the past few years. When I was in Congress, I led an effort to send humanitarian aid, not only to Venezuelans in the country, but also to the neighboring countries that were receiving that diaspora that was leaving. This is a situation that affects not only Venezuela, this is a situation, really, that affects democracies in Latin America. It also threatens our national security here in the United States, and I think that is why this is such an important issue that I want to make sure the entire country pays attention to.
Some people have been critical of U.S. sanctions toward Venezuela. They’ve argued that it actually makes the economic situation worse, or that they just don’t seem to work. What is your perspective on sanctions?
I’ve always thought that targeted sanctions on Maduro, his family, his loyalists, people that are violating human rights, are extremely important to hold the line. We cannot allow that regime to continue to violate human rights, but we also need to ensure that right now, we use every single diplomatic tool that we have to put pressure on that regime to support María Corina Machado and Edmundo González.
Because of those diplomatic talks, we saw an election July 28. There have been many steps that this administration have taken that have actually allowed for the Venezuelan people to speak up on July 28, to have the election on July 28. That is why we are where we are. So at this moment in time, we need to support the opposition movement. We need to support Edmundo González. That means bringing countries like Brazil, which just today, actually, recognized the fact that Edmundo González won that election, and they will not be recognizing Maduro. That is a huge accomplishment, and it speaks on the importance of the United States bringing those countries into this coalition.
Your Republican opponent, Senator Rick Scott, has tried to suggest that you’re not critical of the Maduro regime, which is not accurate. What is your response to those remarks?
My mother brought me and my sisters years ago [to the U.S.], when I was 14 and my family lived under military dictatorship [in Ecuador]. We know exactly what it looks like when we have corrupt politicians in power take over full control and violate human rights. We’ve seen it. We’ve lived it. He [Scott] has absolutely no idea what that’s like. He has absolutely no credibility on this issue, and it’s shameful that he continues to use this issue for political purposes.
This should always be a bipartisan issue, where we here in the United States support democracy and support the results of fair and free elections. Unfortunately, Rick Scott has lost all credibility in speaking about fair and free elections, and recognizing the will of the people, because in 2020 he was one of those senators that voted against recognizing the result of the elections where Joe Biden won in 2020. And what has he done recently? He refuses, his campaign refuses to say whether he’s going to recognize the results of the election here in the United States in November.
He’s lost all credibility. He’s really done nothing for the Venezuelan people except just cheap talk to get some political points and to get some votes. Unfortunately, I’m not going to allow our community down here, whether Venezuela or Latino communities, the people that have fled socialist dictatorships being taken advantage of. I will hold them accountable. I think that a lot of the people here already know that Rick Scott is a fraud, and they don’t believe his lies.
Rick Scott has also called you a socialist. There are some progressives in Congress, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or Senator Bernie Sanders for example, who have said they are supportive of socialism, or more socialist policies. What do you think about that alignment among some progressives with a more socialist agenda?
I’ve denounced those comments publicly. I’ve already done that a couple of times, and I can assure you that I don’t agree with those comments whatsoever. What I think is happening is that they’re completely ignorant of the fact that those socialist policies that they somehow think have been beneficial have destroyed the political, social and economic institutions in Cuba and Nicaragua, in Venezuela. So I invite them to go spend some time in those countries, and maybe they will change their rhetoric.
Some critics have been attacking Vice President Harris’ newly unveiled economic policies and suggesting that they’re socialist, or reminiscent of things that have happened in socialist countries. What is your perspective on some of the things she has said about price gouging or giving people money for housing?
The Republicans love to change the wording to make it seem as though she’s not trying to do something that the majority of Americans agree with. She’s talking about price gouging when there’s a disaster, when there’s an emergency, and we in Florida have been victims of that. Floridians are very much aware of the effects of price gouging when we are faced with a threatening storm that’s coming to our state.
Price gouging is illegal. It’s already been passed as laws in several states in this country. We have passed policies here in the state of Florida, actually, that are against any sort of price gouging. It hurts the consumer. It hurts the public at large, and we should stand firm against any price-gouging schemes.
Nearly 30 percent of Florida’s population is Latino. Many of these voters immigrated to the U.S. from countries that were socialist or communist. How do you think that these discussions on socialism and Venezuela resonate in this election with those voters in Florida?
The issues that are important to Floridians here [are] the same across the board, whether it’s Venezuelans, Cubans, whether it’s Floridians that are living in the panhandle. We are facing an affordability crisis here in our state. People can’t afford to pay their rent, they can’t afford to pay their mortgage, they can’t afford to pay property insurance rates. And a lot of these issues started when Rick Scott was governor, by giving a payout to his friends who made campaign contributions, insurance companies that were siding with him when he was governor.
So the issues that are most important for Floridians right now living in the state of Florida is the affordability crisis that we’re facing. Rick Scott has done nothing to help working families in our state. Actually, he has proposed a plan to raise taxes on middle-class families. What I want to do is lead a bill in the Senate that would lower property insurance rates by 25 percent. We need to bring good paying jobs to our state. That’s what resonates with everyone.
I think that people are tired of the disinformation, the chaos, the division, the false attacks, all for politics. They want people that are going to work for them, and I think that’s why we’ve been bringing so many people into the fold, including, of course, Latinos across the state.
Related to Venezuela, immigration is a big issue in this election. How should Democrats be approaching this issue? Especially since it is an issue that Republicans are using as an attack.
We all agree, Democrats and Republicans, I would assume we all agree that we need to have border security, that we need to invest in our border, that we need to protect our national security. Rick Scott voted against a bill, not once, but twice, that would provide significant funding to protect our border. So again, they use this point, this theme, to divide us, to create fear among our communities.
We have a large population of immigrants that live in the state of Florida, that contribute to the economy, that they’re the backbone of a lot of the sectors here in our economy, including the agricultural sector. I have had conversations with business owners, many of them Republicans, that want a legal pathway for people to be able to work in our state, to work in the hospitality industry, in our agricultural industry. We need to come to the table, Republicans, Democrats, whoever has the courage to have those conversations of what that looks like, because we cannot continue to criminalize immigrants. It’s extremely dangerous.
We’ve seen an incitement of violence against immigrants because of these talking points that Rick Scott continues to use, and a lot of them are completely false. I can tell you that the latest thing, and I’m going to tell you this before you even ask me the question, is that they’re saying that we should pass a law to make it illegal for non-U.S. citizens to vote. Well, we already have laws on the books that say that it’s illegal if you are not a U.S. citizen, you cannot vote.
Let’s set the record straight right now. They’re again using a false talking point to divide, to make it seem as this country does not have laws. Rick Scott, maybe should look at the book that we have of laws in our country. I mean, the guy oversaw the largest Medicare fraud in the history of this country. We have laws on the book that would not allow for non-U.S. citizens to vote. Let’s focus on the issues. He has no agenda to bring good-paying jobs to Florida, no agenda to lower the cost of living for Floridians. He wants to use that seat for self-enrichment. And you know, that’s why I think that the most important thing we can do here is for him and I just to take the stage and talk about the issues.
With your own immigrant story, how do you think that your background and your identity impacts this race?
The struggles that we faced in my family by leaving everything behind, coming here to the United States when I was 14 with nothing, having to work. My mom had to work 12-hour shifts. I started working at a minimum-wage job. Those are the struggles that are facing so many people here in our state and across the country.
The struggles that we have faced with gun violence. I lost my father to gun violence when I was 24 years old, and it’s an event that brought so much pain and trauma to my family, and that it has linked us to so many people who lost their loved ones to gun violence. There are a lot of things that have happened in my life that are very similar to the lives of so many people that live in our state. My story is a story of Florida, a lot of people that just come, that want to work hard, that want to make it, that want to send their kids to school without the fear of gun violence coming to the schools and taking the lives away from their children.
There are a lot of things that make me so much more representative of who we are here in the state of Florida, than Rick Scott, who is the wealthiest senator right now, someone that oversaw the largest Medicare fraud, and used that money to buy his seat for the governor’s mansion and now in the Senate. He doesn’t understand who we are. He doesn’t know the struggles that a single mom has just to make sure that she’s able to put food on the table for her kids. And now he’s trying to strip away at every single freedom, including a woman’s right to choose.
As a mom, I have two daughters, you can understand how personal that is to me as well in my family. I also take care of my mother. She lives here at home with me, and I’ve seen what Medicare, what her Social Security check has meant to her, and Rick Scott wrote a plan that would sunset Medicare and Social Security. There are so many issues that we have lived in my family firsthand, that I understand so many Floridians are going through and they’re struggling with.
That’s why I want to make sure that in the Senate, I work to make their lives just a little bit easier. I’m not using that seat for the title, or as Rick Scott has, just to make more money for his war chest. I want to make sure that we work for Florida, for every single Floridian, regardless of political affiliation.