Florida Gov. Rick Scott wins Senate seat after manual recount: state officials

Florida's Republican Gov. Rick Scott appears to have secured a U.S. Senate seat by a margin of 10,000 votes over his Democratic opponent, incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson, after a manual recount, state officials announced Sunday.

In the recount of the ballots cast for the Nov. 6 election, Scott won by 10,033 votes, Florida elections officials said Sunday. Scott took 50.05 percent of the 8.19 million votes cast statewide, compared with 49.93 percent for Nelson, the officials added.

Sunday's official results posted by the state followed legally required hand and machine recounts. State officials will certify the final totals Tuesday.

The results show that Scott is poised to end Nelson's lengthy political career. The three-term incumbent was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2000. Nelson has scheduled an announcement later Sunday afternoon.

Scott spent more than $60 million of his own money on ads that portrayed Nelson as out-of-touch and ineffective. Nelson responded by questioning Scott's ethics and saying he would be under the sway of President Donald Trump.

The battle between Nelson and Scott and the race to replace Scott as governor both were closely watched contests in which Democrats had hoped to topple Republicans. On Saturday, Democrat Andrew Gillum conceded to Republican rival Ron DeSantis, an ally of Trump, in the governor's race, which also went to a recount.