Florida Gov. Rick Scott is running for U.S. Senate.
Scott, a Republican, announced Monday his intentions to unseat Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson at an event for ODC Construction in Orlando.
Florida voters elected Scott as Florida’s 45th governor in 2010, and again in 2014. He is term-limited from running for a third time.
Assuming he fends off other Republican challengers during an August primary, Scott will take on Nelson, who’s held the seat since 2000.
Nelson is the only statewide elected Democrat and has held some form of elected or appointed office since 1972.
In his announcement speech, Scott offered a list of what he said his administration had accomplished over the past seven years.
“Almost 1.5 million jobs, $10 billion in tax reductions, over $9 billion in debt reductions in this state,” Scott said.
“People are flocking to Florida because this is where you can live the dream of this country,” he said.
Scott said it was time to “take this same mission to D.C.,” calling the nation’s capital “dysfunctional.”
He then took aim at “career politicians,” although he did not mention Nelson by name during his speech.
“We have to have term limits in Congress,” he said. “Let’s stop sending talkers to Washington, let’s send some doers.”
There’s “a lot of old, tired thinking up there,” Scott said.
Before Scott ran for governor, he spent most his career in the private sector.
Scott most notably was chief executive officer at Columbia/HCA, once the largest private for-profit health care company in the U.S.
He resigned in 1997 while the company faced federal fraud charges over Medicare billing practices. Scott was never charged with a crime.
Scott also co-founded Solantic, a Jacksonville-based urgent care chain.
Nelson has served in the Senate since 2000, following stints in the U.S. House of Representatives, and after holding several cabinet positions under former Florida Govs. Lawton Chiles, Buddy MacKay and Jeb Bush, His political career began in 1972 where he served as a member of the Florida House until 1978.
The general election is Nov. 6.