Republican Senate candidate and Florida Gov. Rick Scott said he's "already won the race two times." | Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images Elections Scott blasts Nelson over count in Florida Senate race

Florida Gov. Rick Scott said Sunday that he's won his closely contested Senate race against Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson and that his opponent is "committing fraud" in an effort to steal the race from him and is a "sore loser."

"Sen. Nelson is trying to commit fraud to win this election," Scott told host Chris Wallace on "Fox News Sunday."


Florida's Senate race is one of three statewide contests headed to an automatic recount, after the unofficial deadline for counties to report results passed at noon Saturday. Scott's lead over Nelson has narrowed since election night. Before the recount was ordered, he remained in front by just over 12,000 votes as Democrat-rich counties like Broward County continued to report additional numbers.

Scott repeated his allegations Sunday, without evidence, that fraud is behind the increase in votes for Nelson; both Scott and President Donald Trump have accused Democrats of trying to "steal" the election.

Scott’s comments, stopping short of actually accusing Nelson of committing fraud directly, concern two issues that surfaced after Election Day.

In one case, Nelson’s team of lawyers objected to Palm Beach County’s election canvassing board from canceling a ballot cast by a noncititzen, who is barred from voting. In another case, Nelson’s lawyers are asking a judge to allow all absentee ballots to count, including those where the signature on the mail-in envelope doesn’t match the signature of the voter in file. The signature-match rule is designed to prevent people from fraudulently casting a ballot on behalf of another, but the rule had led to tens of thousands of ballots cast by lawful voters to be canceled — including former Congressman and 2016 US Senate candidate Patrick Murphy.

The governor also said he has asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to look into potential fraud. The department and the secretary of state, both agencies Scott oversees as governor, have both previously said there is no evidence of fraud.

Nelson and his legal team have insisted that the increase in votes for the incumbent is simply due to the fact that more votes were being counted.

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As the recount begins, Scott said he's "already won the race two times" and intends to head to Washington to be sworn in as the state's junior senator.

Wallace said Nelson was also asked to appear on the show but declined.

The Senate stands at 51 Republicans to 46 Democrats, with races in Arizona (where Democrat Kyrsten Sinema leads Republican Martha McSally) and Mississippi (which is headed to a runoff later this month) also still to be resolved.