There's a shake up in Florida Governor Rick Scott's team as he's expected to announce his senate candidacy on April 9th. He'd be facing Democratic Senator Bill Nelson, and polls show that both are neck and neck in a hypothetical race.
Some of the changes taking place include Mary Beth Vickers heading health and human services related areas after being Policy Chief for Health and Human Services. Jack Heekin, Chief Deputy General Counsel, will become Deputy Chief of Staff for law enforcement and emergency management. Julia Espy, Environmental Policy Coordinator, will be taking charge of transportation, housing and environment Deputy Chief of Staff. Collin Lomagistro, Director of Appointments announced his leaving outright, and it's expected that he will be joining the soon to be announced campaign.
And this all comes at a time when Brad Piepenbrink was chosen to replace Jackie Schutz Zeckman for the Chief of Staff position.
Florida Senator Marco Rubio, a friend of both Governor Scott and Senator Nelson, commented that he would not be campaigning against Nelson. He explained that "Bill Nelson and I have a very good working relationship.”
However, Rubio did note that he would “support the GOP nominee, and if Scott runs it’s going to be him. And he’ll do a good job in the Senate."
