"But Rick Scott gave corporate polluters like Big Sugar a pass — and we got this," the ad says amid images of dead sea life. | Getty New ad buy blames Rick Scott for algae, red tide

TALLAHASSEE — A political committee affiliated with Senate Democrats is spending $2.9 million on an ad buy blaming Gov. Rick Scott for coastal toxic red tide and algae blooms plaguing Florida's waterways.

Discharges from Lake Okeechobee are being blamed for algae coating parts of the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers and for beach closures in Martin County. On the southwest Florida coast, millions of dead fish and other sea life are washing ashore because of the toxic red tide.


Majority Forward, a 501(c)(4) group affiliated with the Democrat-leaning Senate Majority PAC, is buying ads starting Monday that target Scott, who is seeking to unseat Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) in November. Its nonprofit status means the group does not have to disclose its donors.

The ad shows newspaper opinion column headlines saying it is "fair to blame Rick Scott" and that the governor cut the budgets of state environmental agencies. View the ad here.

"But Rick Scott gave corporate polluters like Big Sugar a pass — and we got this," the ad says amid images of dead sea life. "So tell Gov. Scott clean up this mess."

Scientists note that red tide is a naturally occurring phenomenon that began offshore in 2017 prior to the Lake Okeechobee discharges in June. But they also say red tide can be fed by nutrients from waterways as it moves onshore, though the connection to Lake Okeechobee discharges remains uncertain.

In an earlier response to criticisms of Scott on red tide and algae blooms, campaign spokeswoman Kerri Wyland said it was "ridiculous" for Nelson and fellow Democrats to blame Scott for an issue "that’s been neglected by the same federal government Nelson has been a part of for decades."

"In fact, Bill Nelson himself pledged ‘to save Lake Okeechobee and make polluters pay for the cleanup’ in [a] campaign ad thirty years ago, but clearly, he failed to keep his word," Wyland said via email. "No amount of misleading and negative attacks will hide the fact that Bill Nelson is -and always has been- all talk and no action."