MODERATOR: Good evening and welcome to this debate with-- the Florida Senatorial Debate brought to you by Telemundo Network. The first and only Spanish debate moderated by Marilys Llanos, Telemundo 51 senior political reporter and Jackie Nespral, NBC 6 news anchor, coming to you from our studios in Miramar.

We also want to welcome our viewers from the Florida Keys to West Palm Beach and our viewers from our Telemundo stations in Orlando, Tampa, Fort Myers, and Naples. We also want to welcome those who are following us through Telemundo51.com and NBC6.com, as well as the Telemundo Orlando and Telemundo Tampa websites. You can tweet us by using #debateFlorida. We also want to welcome our studio audience.

Here with us is Democratic Senator Bill Nelson, who is running for re-election for the fourth time and Governor Rick Scott, who was elected for the first term in 2010, and is the Republican candidate in the senatorial federal race. Welcome both of you.

MODERATOR: We ask the studio audience to refrain from applauding for either candidate once the debate has started.

The debate rules are as follows. The candidates have not been provided any of the questions. Both are going to be asked the same question, each one will have a minute and a half to answer each of the questions, and whoever answers first will have an extra 30 seconds for rebuttal. At the end of the debate, each candidate will have 90 seconds for their final argument.

Before the debate, we had a coin toss to determine who would be asked first. So the first question goes to Senator Bill Nelson. Senator Nelson, in our own pool, which took place in July-- it was done by Mason-Dixon. When we asked what are the most important problems facing our country, immigration was the first issue. How did you see the future of more than 11 million undocumented immigrants, specifically the almost 900,000 that live in Florida, establishing roots in the community, have had children here, and have contributed to society and the economy in our state?

BILL NELSON: Almost 12 million in the country undocumented immigrants. And that's why we need a comprehensive immigration law, one such as that I voted on about six years ago. It was passed, overwhelmingly, in the Senate bipartisan. It was a vote that was up in the 60s, so it was almost 2:1 and yet the House would never take it up. And now, you see without a comprehensive immigration law, you see what's happening.

You see children being taken away from their families at the border, which by the way, when that was happening, my opponent was silent. You see a situation where people are here constantly living in the shadows. And what we should do is we should have a comprehensive immigration law.

MODERATOR: Thank you so much, Senator Nelson. Now, Governor Scott.

RICK SCOTT: Sure.

RICK SCOTT: Immigration-- Look. We're the best melting pot. Florida's the best melting pot, I think, probably in the world. You can get a job here. You can get a great education here.

My opponent has had 40 years to do something on immigration and he's actually done nothing. We have to secure our borders. My opponent has co-sponsored a bill that would have open borders. I completely oppose that. We've got to have secure borders.

Our cities have to obey the law. My opponent has opposed requiring our cities to obey the law. We all have to obey the law and we've got to take care of the kids.

RICK SCOTT: That didn't come here on their own. Their parents bought them. We got to take care of the DACA kids. I think that it's remarkable that the senator will come up here and talk about doing something. He's been there when his party controlled both chambers in the White House, and he did nothing. And with regard to the DACA-- the kids that were separated from their parents, I completely disagreed with the President. And my opponent should have gone back to DC and gotten something done.

MODERATOR: Senator Nelson, you have time for rebuttal.

BILL NELSON: Well, the fact is that we would have done something as we did six years ago if the majority in the House had passed the legislation, and then we wouldn't have the situation, where I went to homestead, to the detention center, they wouldn't even let me in. Several days later, they decided to let me in, and then they wouldn't let me see the children that had been separated from their parents. And as of today, still a couple of hundred children have been separated.

MARILYS LLANOS: Thank you, Senator Nelson. Next question, we're going to talk about immigration again, Governor Scott. The Trump administration is proposing to make it more difficult for illegal immigrants to obtain a green card. If they ever receive any government benefits, such as Medicaid, food stamps, or public housing, do you agree or disagree with this measure?

RICK SCOTT: I think the way you have to do this is you have to do it in pieces. Let me just go back to the detention center. My opponent, Senator Nelson, could have gone back to DC and gotten something done. He didn't. And I want to remind him that he voted for the legislation that set up that detention center in the first place.

Now, with regard to our immigration policy, I think the way we have to do it is we have to say step one, secure the border. Step two, take care of these kids who didn't come here on their own. Their parents brought them. Take care of the DACA kids. Come up with a work visa program that works for people who can come here. They can be vetted, and they go back home, so we can continue to grow our economy.

With regard to benefits, I think as long as they're American citizens, we ought to all get the exact same benefits. But all of these problems are caused because Congress has failed to act, failed to act, failed to act. Just remember, my opponent's been up there for over 42 years. He had times to do this, and he never got anything done. So I think the steps are secure the border, make our cities obey the law. You shouldn't be able to decide what laws you want to obey. Take care of the kids who didn't come here on their own. Do the work visa program. Then you start working through all the other problems.

MODERATOR: Governor, thank you so much. Senator Nelson.

BILL NELSON: Well, you are starting to hear from my opponent that whatever he says is simply not true. As a matter of fact, he has nine attack TV advertisements on the air. A fact checking, independent organization has checked them, and they're all false or either pants on fire false.

The technique that my opponent uses is he tries to distract. My opponent, let me tell you what his position on immigration was as he was running for governor. He said he wanted to bring the Arizona law to Florida. The Arizona law said that law enforcement could stop and frisk on the basis of a person's color or their ethnicity.

That law was ultimately declared unconstitutional. My opponent wanted to bring that to Florida. So I think you see what his real feeling is about immigration.

MODERATOR: We have a couple of seconds. Do you agree or disagree with the measure of making it harder for illegal immigrants to obtain the green card?

BILL NELSON: Well, I agree that they should get the green card. That was the whole purpose of the immigration law, to put people on a path.

MARILYS LLANOS: Senator, your time is up. I'm sorry. Governor Scott, you have 30 seconds for rebuttal.

RICK SCOTT: Well, it's nice that the senator believes in things. What we all know is nothing will get done. He can come here every six years in a campaign. He can say he wants to do things. But he's been there for 42 years. Nothing's happened. If this was something he wanted to do, my opponent could have done it. With regard to Politifact, that is an arm of the Tampa Bay Times. They're not exactly perceived to be a nonpartisan group. They've always endorsed my opponent. And I would look at it as part of the Democratic party.

MODERATOR: Thank you very much, Governor. Senator Nelson, do you think that the current firearm possession laws in our state are sufficient, where you may still purchase an assault weapon as an AR15, like the one used at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas School massacre?

BILL NELSON: We ought to get the assault rifles off the street. We ought to pass a comprehensive background check, a universal and comprehensive background check like the one that I have voted on. And until we do that, we are going to continue to have the problems that we're having.

Now this is particularly sensitive to us because of the Parkland shooting. It's also the Pulse Nightclub. In the front row is Fred Guttenberg. His daughter Jaime was gunned down.

Fred wakes up every day and goes to the cemetery the first thing. He'll never have another birthday for Jaime. My opponent has an A+ rating with the NRA. He has passed more NRA-backed legislation than any other governor in the history of this state. I hope Governor, that you will look Fred Guttenberg in the face, and tell him that you're not going to support those kind of policies that you have with the NRA.

MODERATOR: Go ahead Governor Scott.

RICK SCOTT: Well, first off, for Fred's family, for all the families that lost their loved ones at Parkland, my heart goes out to them. I believe in the Second Amendment. I believe in the First Amendment. I believe all the amendments of the Bill of Rights.

And in contrast to Senator Nelson, who has never gotten anything done with regard to creating school safety, we actually did something. We sat down with parents like Fred Guttenberg and others. We sat down with students, law enforcement, mental health counselors. And within three weeks after the Parkland shooting, we passed a comprehensive bill. We're going to have law enforcement in all of our schools, more mental health counselors in our schools, more hearting in our schools.

All these things we did, Senator Nelson has never done. He's got nothing done. He can talk like he cares about these things.

Here's the difference, Senator Nelson is fine with taking away certain guns from law abiding citizens. I think we ought to focus on the problem. The problem is we have people that want to harm themselves or others. And I think we ought to take all weapons away from them.

And that's what we did in the legislation I got passed this year. Within a little over three weeks, right after Parkland happened. And on top of that, we got to start talking about why are young men in this country not value life like they did when I was growing up?

MODERATOR: Senator Nelson, you have 30 seconds for rebuttal.

BILL NELSON: The people of Florida want, in wide margins, a comprehensive universal background check that would catch some of these murderers. They also want to get the assault weapons off the street. Assault weapons, they're not for hunting.

I'm a hunter. I grew up on a ranch. These weapons are for killing, they're not for hunting.

MODERATOR: Senator Nelson, thank you so much. Governor Scott, you would talk about employment. And even though our economic indicators are positive and unemployment is really low right now, 3.7%, the average family income in Florida is around $50,860, around 12% less than the national average. What are you willing to do to bring the Florida average family income to the national standard?

RICK SCOTT: I just want to go back to the last question a second. So I believe in background checks. My opponent voted against legislation that would have helped reauthorized helping our state to use the National Background Check. So he has not been somebody that-- he can say he's all for background checks. But if you look at his voting record, that's not where he was.

Jobs-- I think it's the most important thing we can do for a family. I can still remember my dad's car getting repossessed. I remember the struggles my parents had putting food on the table. And that's why when I ran for governor I ran because the state was in trouble. 832,000 people lost their jobs within four years because of policies that my opponent believes in-- higher taxes, more regulation, and that kills the-- it kills the economy.

So since December 2010 the private sector has added 1.6 million jobs. Average wages are up 20%. But look at the difference in our state now as compared to when I-- the four years before I ran. Home prices are dropped in half. You couldn't find a job. Now we have about 250,000 job openings in the state. Wages are going up. Our job growth rate is 60% faster than the rest of the country. That's how wages are going to continue to grow.

MODERATOR: Senator Nelson.

BILL NELSON: Well, what the governor didn't tell you is that 44% of the people-- the hard-working families in this state-- do not make enough money to make ends meet. 44%. Almost one half in this state do not have enough income for housing, and food, and medical care, and child care, and transportation. That's not a good record on income of jobs.

You take teachers-- our teachers are paid 10%-- they are paid on the average $10,000 less than the national average for teachers. Now that's not a good record. The governor keeps making these statements of things that I voted for that I didn't. The fact-checkers will tell you.

He says I don't do anything. Well, why don't you go to the beach. Look out there and see if you see any oil rigs. Go to the Cape and the Space Center.

MODERATOR: But what would you do to level the income in Florida?

BILL NELSON: What I would do is raise the minimum wage to $12 at least, if not $15-- to raise the income level so people can pay for the necessities of life, and feed their families.

MODERATOR: Thank you so much, senator. How would you answer to that, Governor Scott?

RICK SCOTT: I think this is an example of why we need term limits. Senator Nelson has been there. He's had 42 years to do something about this. Here's what he's done.

He's voted for higher taxes over 300 times. That doesn't help people get a job. He's increased regulations. That doesn't help people get a job.

So here's an individual who has had 40 years to do something to try to improve the economy. But the things he would do is actually hurt the economy. That's exactly what Barack Obama was doing-- higher taxes, more regulations.

MODERATOR: Governor, thank you. Senator Nelson, this is a question for you. According to federal data, Florida has the largest number of people registered in Obamacare in the whole US. Are you in favor against the replacement and the doing away with the Obamacare? And if you want to do that, with what plan would you replace it?

BILL NELSON: Well, you just described what my opponent has wanted to do. He wanted, first of all, for us not to pass the Affordable Care Act. And then, once it was passed-- and indeed, your statistics are correct-- Florida has more on the ACA than anybody else. Almost two million people that now have health care that never had health care before.

And for the seven years of the law my opponent has wanted to kill kit-- to repeal it. There's something else that he's done. A part of the law said it left it up to the state to increase Medicaid to a level for all of the states. That's 800,000 people in this state that are not getting health care, but for Governor Scott not promoting and pushing in the legislature the expansion of Medicaid.

The Affordable Care Act, with Medicaid, would have 2 and 1/2 million people in this state that would have health care that never did. He has tried to kill the law, and that is a huge difference between us.

MODERATOR: Governor, District 27 is a district that we have in South Florida and it's about to have some elections. And it has been Iliana Ross Lehtinen and they have the most amount of people registered in Obamacare. They want a solution. Do you want to substitute it, eliminate it, or what?

RICK SCOTT: Sure. Well, first off, getting health care is very important to me. Growing up, my family didn't have health care insurance, and my parents struggled to get health care. I can remember my mom crying because I had a brother that had a significant hip disease. And where we were living, she couldn't find anybody to take care of him.

Thank God she found a charity hospital 200 miles away that would see him every six months and take care of him. So getting health care is very important to me. Now, let's think about the Affordable Health Care Act. If there was a lemon law, that should be sent back immediately.

What did they say? Premiums, your cost per family are going to go down $2,500. It didn't. Premiums almost doubled. Deductibles were up. Co-payments were up. They said you wouldn't lose your doctor. Yep, we know that was his lie of the century.

You wouldn't lose your plan-- we know that was a complete lie. So if you look at the Affordable Health Care Act, what they said it was going to do, didn't do it. Now, we have got to make sure we take care of people with pre-existing conditions.

We have to make sure that anybody can get health care insurance. My opponent had plenty of time to take care of that when he was the insurance commissioner and never did. And by way, under Obamacare, the Congress exempt themselves so it wouldn't apply to them.

MODERATOR: Senator, the governor says that Obamacare is not working. What is your rebuttal to Governor Scott?

BILL NELSON: Well, obviously it is because almost 2 million people have health care in this state, health insurance, that never would. I just heard the governor say that he favors the insurance for preexisting conditions. That's exactly the opposite of what he has allowed the state of Florida to file suit to declare unconstitutional pre- existing conditions protection that is in the law. That is unconscionable.

MODERATOR: Senator, thank you so much. Now we're going to talk about the environment. This is something very important for our state. You have blamed each other of causing the algae bloom and the red tide crisis, which is impacting the Florida beaches. I think there's 100 miles of beaches in Florida. What can you tell the communities impacted by this? And what are you going to do to solve this crisis? Because this is a crisis.

RICK SCOTT: Sure. First off, let's go back on Obamacare. Senator Nelson said that I control the attorney general in Florida. He's a little bit confused. The attorney general is actually elected completely separate from the governor, and the attorney general decides what lawsuits-- the attorney general does, not the governor. So I completely believe, just based on my own family's background, that you should have a right, whether you have a pre-existing condition or not, to be able to get health care. And again, my opponent could have taken care of that but he never did.

With regard to the environment, two issues. First off, if you just think about why we all live here-- we all live here because we love this environment. We love our beaches, we love our lakes, we love our rivers, and we love to get outdoors. I have two grandsons that just started Cub Scouts. And they've gone on one campout, and they're about to go on their second. So the environment's important to me.

Red tide is something that's naturally occurring. I've declared a state of emergency. We've sent millions down to our counties to help them. We have spent about $17 million through Mote Marine to do research. But that's totally separate as the algae problem. The algae problem is 100% tied to the fact that Senator Nelson does a campaign ad in 1990, said he's going to deal with the algae. And now, how many years later, he has never done anything to get us the money to fix the dike at Lake Okeechobee, which is a 100% federal project.

MODERATOR: Thank you, governor. We're going to repeat the question. What can you tell the communities that had been affected? What are you going to do to solve this crisis?

BILL NELSON: Well, I mean, we would call it a whopper, what he is saying. Because it's totally disjointed from the truth. And by the way, this election is about integrity and trust. Who can you trust telling the truth? So what about the environment? He has systematically, in his eight years as governor, systematically disassembled the environmental agencies of this state. He has drained the water management districts of funding.

He even abolished the Department of Community Affairs, which was the growth management agency. All of this, the result of putting more pollution in the water supply that goes into the lakes and streams and rivers. And as a result, you see the result. You put pollution in the water, it will grow the algae in the heat of summer.

And then when that algae goes down the rivers and mixes with a bacteria known as red tide, it's supercharges that. And that's where we're seeing all the dead fish and wildlife that are on the beaches. His record is very clear on the environment.

MODERATOR: Governor Scott, how can you answer to that?

RICK SCOTT: So first off, the 30% increase in the funding for the Department of Environment Protection, $1 billion increase in funding for environment since I got elected. We have committed $200 million a year for the Everglades, $50 million a year for our springs. And let's go back. Senator Nelson has gotten us no money to fix the dike at Lake Okeechobee. $0.

I put up state dollars, and finally in the last year, I went to the president and went to Congress and have gotten the money. And the dike will be finished by 2022. But senator Nelson has spent 40 years never getting money for the dike.

MODERATOR: Thank you very much, Governor. Senator Nelson, both of you have been critical of recent comments made by President Donald Trump regarding the handling of the crisis in Puerto Rico due to hurricane Maria. It was last year-- a year ago. By distancing yourself from the president, are you seeking to obtain more than a million Puerto Ricans-- their votes that have settled here in Florida?

BILL NELSON: Well, I'm distancing myself from the president because the president has treated Puerto Rico and its citizens as second class citizens. Can you imagine going for eight months when I went eight months after the hurricane, a third of that city still did not have electricity. People couldn't afford to run generators all the time. They couldn't afford the fuel if they could get it. They had to go each day and find perishable food. Right after the hurricane I went up into the mountains to Utuado. The hurricane-- the river had washed out the bridges. They needed a lot of help immediately.

And the president-- the record of FEMA, it has been terrible and everybody knows that. The president, even to the point that in distributing supplies throws paper towels into the audience. Now, my opponent has said when down there in Puerto Rico, what would you have done differently? And he said, quote, I would not have done anything differently. I think that pretty well tells you about the treatment of the people from Puerto Rico.

MODERATOR: Governor Scott, please, your answer.

RICK SCOTT: Well, first off, Senator Nelson, what you just said is absolutely untrue. In contrast to you, I've been there eight times. Here's what I thought about Puerto Rico. When I saw that coming, I thought about my mom. And I thought, what would my mom gone through if something like this were to happen? And I said, I'm going to do everything I can to help Puerto Ricans whether they're in Puerto Rico or they're going to come to Florida.

It was never about politics, it was about helping our fellow citizens. So what have we done? We sent National Guard, we sent highway patrol. We actually donated highway patrol cars. We opened up relief centers and we organized state, federal, and local resources, along with non-for-profits at the Orlando Airport and then Miami Port. We did waivers so they could get into our school system. We got them in-state tuition for a higher education system.

We just went piece by piece. We took money to just allocate just to help Puerto Ricans get jobs. And every time I talk to Governor Rosselló, I said, what else can we do to be helpful? Senator Nelson always wants to complain about FEMA. Senator Nelson has been there for decades. When does he take responsibility? If he's saying a part of the federal government is not doing their job, when does he take responsibility for having been there for decades, and never doing anything to fix that agency.

MODERATOR: Governor, distancing yourself from President Trump, would that guarantee the Puerto Rican vote in Florida?

RICK SCOTT: I don't think about politics that way. I think about, how do you help families? Whether they're in Puerto Rico, whether they came here, or whether they went back, my job is to be a full service governor and help them and do everything I can for the Puerto Ricans.

MODERATOR: Senator Nelson, you have 30 seconds for a rebuttal.

BILL NELSON: Governor, I was there long before the hurricane. And that's why Governor Ricardo Rossello endorsed me yesterday. I've also been endorsed by his dad, who was a very popular governor back in the '90s, as well as the immediate past governor. They recognize that when it came time to get the money for the hurricane disaster assistance, it was not there. One senator stood up and made sure that that disaster assistance was there.

MODERATOR: Senator, thank you. The next question after Puerto Rico, we're going to talk about Venezuela, because we know very well what's happening there-- very difficult times for Venezuela. And the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela has caused a migration surge of Venezuelan to the United States. It's estimated that around 14,000 Venezuelans applied for asylum in 2016. Would you support a law that protects Venezuelans like it did Cubans, or a TPS for the Venezuelans?

RICK SCOTT: Sure. You just can't imagine what's happened to the families in Venezuela. One thing that I always tell everybody-- the elections have consequences. And if you don't think elections have consequences, look at what happened in Venezuela, where today, a baby born in Venezuela is not going to get the right food, not going to get the right medicine.

We have many Venezuelans that are trying to get asylum here. I've sat down and talked to the Secretary of Homeland Security to do everything we can to accelerate the review of that, and in the meantime, see if we can provide them TPS. If you go back to the problem with Venezuela, it's caused because my opponent and Barack Obama did the wrong thing in Cuba. And we've got all the Cuban thugs in Venezuela. They're helping Maduro.

At the state, what I've done is I've stopped our pension plan from doing any investments with a company doing business with the Maduro regime, and also got legislation passed that would set our state agencies don't do business with the Maduro regime. But all of these problems, whether you're talking about Ortega in Nicaragua, whether you're talking about Maduro in Venezuela, are cause because the Castro brothers, and the unrest they're creating in Latin America.

Yes.

MODERATOR: Would you support that, then?

RICK SCOTT: Yes.

MODERATOR: Thank you. Senator?

BILL NELSON: Yes, I will support TPS, and have already been working on that, having met with a number of Venezuelans. Indeed, we've got a problem in this hemisphere, not only with Maduro and Chavez before him, but also with Cuba and Nicaragua. And indeed, they have seen my position of the anti-Castro for so many years that one time, when I requested to go to Cuba to see the imprisoned fellow American that was there for four years, they will not let me in the country, because I've been so harsh.

The same thing with Venezuela-- now we have enacted policies that are clamping down on the bank accounts and the visas for people in Venezuela. I think that ought to be done for all of this assembly that is a rump assembly. It's a fake assembly. And I think we ought to go a step further. I think we actually ought to stop the United States from purchasing Venezuelan oil. It's just a matter of time before Maduro is going to get thrown out, and I think that would hasten it.

MODERATOR: Governor Rick Scott, you have 30 seconds for rebuttal.

RICK SCOTT: Senator Nelson is confused. He must have forgotten that, when he teamed up with Barack Obama to do an appeasement to the Castro brothers. See, the Castro brothers have killed Americans. They have imprisoned people for decades. They have-- I mean, nothing changed. So it was just a unilateral concession to say, oh, we want to see if you'll do the right thing. They've never done the right thing.

MODERATOR: Thank you very much, Governor Rick Scott. Senator Nelson, the sonic attack suffered by the US diplomatic personnel in Havana have resulted in the embassy extremely limiting the services provided to the Cubans for them to be able to immigrate to the United States, to the extent that now they have to travel to third countries to be processed. Would you be in favor of having the US embassy in Cuba continue processing Cubans in that island? Cubans who are waiting for their visas.

BILL NELSON: Yes. Absolutely. And there has to be an adjustment, but there is a major problem with the attacks that have given severe medical and mental problems to our diplomatic personnel. And so we're not going to leave these American diplomats unguarded.

But for your question, the increase of visas, because of the backlog-- we have the capability of doing that. We have the capability of getting other countries to help us with our consulates in those countries.

MODERATOR: I'm sorry. In the island-- for the embassy to keep processing there-- for the Cuban not need to travel.

BILL NELSON: Yes. I answered that at the outset-- that yes, I think we need to increase the personnel there. We can't keep going on with a skeleton staff like we have.

I want to point out that almost everything that my opponent has said has been false. And I recall for you, of the nine attack ads that he has put up against me every one of them has been labeled false or pants on fire false by independent fact checkers.

RICK SCOTT: So let's go back to Cuba for a second. My opponent did an appeasement plan with Raul Castro. Here's an individual that has killed Americans, shot down the Brothers to the Rescue plane, has imprisoned people.

Let me give you a story about Sirley Ávila Leon. Now this-- when my opponent praised Barack Obama for his appeasement policy in Cuba that was December 2014. On May 24, 2015, some security forces came to her house, and attacked her with a machete, cut her in the neck, in the knee, and chopped off her left arm-- her left hand. Then, to make sure she got sick they took the left hand and stuck it in mud. And this is five months after my opponent called it-- the Barack Obama and Bill Nelson appeasement day, he called it a hallelujah day.

Now, you know what Sirley did wrong? She complained that the state was going to shut down a school in her neighborhood. So Nelson, I want you to explain to her-- she's sitting here. I want you to explain to her your appeasement policy. Maybe now you can go back and say, I apologize because it absolutely didn't work.

MODERATOR: Senator, you can rebuttal now.

BILL NELSON: The Cuban government will not let me come to Cuba because I have been so vigorously anti-Castro for years and years. Again, my opponent is saying all of these things. Bottom line, this election is about integrity and trust. And governor, there is no confusion about that.

MODERATOR: You recently mentioned the elections. Now we're going to talk about the elections in November, because we know very well how important the elections are. There's an ongoing investigation of the possible Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign. Do you think that there are any basis for the Florida election voters to… during November's election, our possible concern about foreign interference, whether Russian or from any other country? Governor?

RICK SCOTT: First off, it was remarkable that Senator Nelson won't apologize for the actions he took voting. What I've said all along is that we want 100% participation and we don't want any fraud. It clearly appeared the Russians tried to hack our system back in 2016 in Florida, but we found out that they didn't. It was remarkable this summer that my opponent came out and said, that he said the Russians are in our system. He said they're free to move around. Right?

He said he got the information from the US Senate Intelligence Committee. So we checked. They said they have no evidence to that. We checked with Homeland Security. We checked with FBI. They said they have no evidence. We checked with the Secretary of State. Nothing. We checked with the supervisor of elections, which are locally elected in our state, has said there's no evidence. So instead of coming out and saying you know what, I didn't mean to say that, I was wrong. He just stopped talking. All right?

I don't know what his plan was. Did he want to make people uncomfortable? We've put millions of dollars into our election systems. We've gotten grants for our election systems. We have added cyber security experts for our election systems. We're going to continue do everything to make sure that we have free and fair elections. I want everybody to participate, and I want no fraud.

MODERATOR: Senator Nelson.

BILL NELSON: It is clearly understood that indeed we have to be constantly concerning about the security of our elections. The governor continues to bring up issues to try to deflect from his record. He brings up things to use as a cheap political trick to get people off from looking at his record. In the course of this debate I want to talk about some of his investments. His investments in companies that do business with the state of Florida. There's a long list of them, and the newspapers of this state have said that he is a walking conflict of interest. And so it comes back to that idea that this election is about trust and about integrity.

MODERATOR: But the voter, the Floridians, would they trust that the elections are going to be OK in November?

BILL NELSON: I think they're going to be enough watch dogs watching now. Contrary to the governor's record in the past where he made it much harder to vote than easier to vote, cutting the two week early voting period back to eight days, cutting out the Sundays before the Tuesday elections. Finally that's back up to two weeks, but at the discretion of the supervisors.

MODERATOR: Senator Nelson, your time is up. Governor Rick Scott, do you have anything to add about this possible, or are you concerned about it?

RICK SCOTT: Well the senator did not respond to the things he said. He said the Russians were free to roam around our system. He's never provided any evidence, so the only thing I can say is either he made it up or he tried to make people feel uncomfortable. We have the most number of early voting day is now in the history of the state. We've done everything we can. We've shortened the ballot for initiatives. We've done everything we can to make sure people get out and vote.

MODERATOR: Thank you very much, Governor Scott. Senator Bill Nelson, the appointment of a Justice to the Supreme Court is one of the most important responsibilities in this nation. President Trump nominated Judge Brett Kavanaugh, who was accused by Professor Christine Blasey Ford of sexual assault. She was assaulted when they were teenagers. Kavanaugh has denied that. Both testified before the Senate, and the president has ordered an additional FBI investigation. Taking these events into consideration, would you support or not the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court?

BILL NELSON: I will vote no on Judge Kavanaugh. It was very apparent in the way that he has conducted himself in interviews. By the way, I asked six times. The White House did not make him available to me.

And the testimony of Dr. Ford was quite compelling. As a matter of fact, it was real. And she was expressing for millions of women in this country the "me too," that sexual assault has happened to them. And she was doing that in front of 11 Republican men that seemed to dismiss it.

I'm hopeful that the FBI investigation is going to bring circumstances to light, but the judge in his response-- there was just not the temperament that is needed of what you want to put someone on the highest court in the land. And I will vote no.

MODERATOR: Governor Rick Scott.

RICK SCOTT: So first off, Senator Nelson said he was voting no before the president even nominated Judge Kavanaugh. He said whoever was nominated, he was going to vote no. The way the US Senate has handled this, it's a circus. It's more like a Jerry Springer Show.

Dr. Ford and Judge Kavanaugh are just pawns in some political game. Both of their testimonies were convincing and pure, raw emotion. And your heart goes out to every one of them. 70 US senators, I think plus, have met with Judge Kavanaugh. My opponent hasn't. You know, if you look at-- if you take all of the evidence together and you look at Judge Kavanaugh's record as a judge, I'm going to continue to support Judge Kavanaugh.

Now, Sir Nelson says he's concerned about sexual harassment claims. So his close friend, Congressman Alcee Hastings, sold a sexual assault claim for over $200,000, paid for by the taxpayers. Never once did the senator come out and say anything about it.

We've got the attorney general candidate in Minnesota, Keith Ellison, that has been accused of sexual harassment claims. The senator hasn't say anything about it. Senator Nelson is a partisan politician that all he does is attack Republicans and defend Democrats.

MODERATOR: Thank you, Governor. Would you like to respond to that?

BILL NELSON: You know, Governor, you just can't tell the truth. Everything that you have said here-- and that's why the newspapers of this state are onto you. That's why they say you're a walking conflict of interest.

That's why the Orlando Sentinel has written an extensive article showing that this is your pattern from every election that you've ever run, that, in fact, you always blame the other guy. You never take responsibility. And I think the people of Florida see through this.

MODERATOR: Senator, thank you. We have seen we have a divided country. We're now going to talk about the gubernatorial election for governor. Ron DeSantis has the support of President Trump, and Democrat candidate Andrew Gillum has the support of Bernie Sanders, and yesterday, got the support from President Barack Obama. How would a gubernatorial race impact your senatorial race?

RICK SCOTT: I don't think about the politics that way. The way I think about it is I hope that the next governor continues the plan we've set forth where you continue to grow jobs. When you continue to grow jobs, here's what happens. You have record funding for K-12 education, record funding for higher education, record funding for the environment, record funding for transportation.

So my goal is that the next governor will continue those policies. We now have one of the best higher education systems-- well, the best-- according to US News Report, in the country. We're number one two years in a row. And we are beating the national numbers on reading and math for fourth graders for K-12 education. Beat them in reading for eighth graders.

It's a clear choice. Senator Nelson and Andrew Gillum will kill the economy. They like high taxes. Andrew Gillum has said he wants to raise taxes 40%.

Senator Nelson has voted for tax increases, or higher taxes over three-- higher taxes. Higher taxes. --over 300 times. The reason this economy is going the way it is, is we've cut $10 billion worth of taxes. We paid off $10 billion worth of debt. We've reduced regulations. We streamlined the permitting process so companies can prosper, and people can go back and get a job. The most important thing we do is continue to make sure each and every family can get a great job in the state.

MODERATOR: Governors, thank you so much. How would that affect you? You know?

BILL NELSON: Well, the governor keeps coming out with one whopper after another. Apparently, you never got your mouth washed out with soap after telling a lie because you keep on going on, on every part of my record. I think Andrew Gillum is going to win, in large part, because of a reaction, not only comparing him to his opponent, but a reaction to what has been done in the governor's office in the last eight years. Look at education. He's savaged education. He cut $1.3 billion dollars out of education the first year.

Teachers, as I said before, have an average salary that is $10,000 less than the average national salary. That's why teachers have endorsed me. His record-- he mentioned transportation. He refused to take $2.4 billion dollars on high speed rail. Now he is supporting a high speed rail that he is invested in the company that is running the high speed rail. And so time after time, what he does, he tells an untruth, he deflects. And this race is about trust and integrity.

MODERATOR: Governor Rick Scott, you have 30 seconds for rebuttal.

RICK SCOTT: It's hard to pick which untruth I should respond to. But let's go to teacher salaries. All right. Let's remember what it was like when I got elected. I walked in with a $4 billion budget deficit. $4 billion budget deficit. So what we did, is we turned the economy around. And now, our annualized revenues in the state are up over $20 billion annualized. $4.5 billion increase annualized k-12 education. I'm the only governor that's ever gotten guaranteed a pay raise for teachers across the state. When Senator Nelson was in the house, Insurance Commissioner, did he do anything on education? On teacher salary? Zero.

MONITOR: Thank you very much. Now we have ran out of time. We're going to give you the opportunity for your final arguments. You have 90 seconds each of you, please. First, Senator Bill Nelson.

BILL NELSON: Well, I think it's quite clear on a number of the things where there's a big difference. We just talked about education. I support education. He has cut it. I want to protect the environment. He has savaged it, and everybody knows it.

I want to expand health care. He not only wants to limit it, not expand it, but kill it. What is bringing health insurance to millions of people in this state.

BILL NELSON: [SPEAKING SPANISH]

GOVERNOR RICK SCOTT: [SPEAKING SPANISH]

MODERATOR: Thank you very much both candidates for participating in our debate in Telemundo 51. We want to thank you. We want to thank you for your participation both of you, Senator Bill Nelson and Governor Rick Scott. We have a survey for all our viewers that have been watching us tonight. I want to invite you to our Telemundo portal, Telemundo51.com, NBC6.com so you can also give us your opinion.

We want to get to know who did better in this debate and what can we expect in our next election. We want to thank you for tuning in and our first Spanish debate that it was here in Florida because this is a very important race. We want to thank all our viewers at home that have been with us for this hour. Our audience here in our studio. And Telemundo 51 is totally committed for this decision 2018 to be the first ones with the best information, the most important information for our debates.

Thank you to Jackie Nespral as well for being here with me moderating this debate. Good evening to all. Good evening. Thank you so much.