Gov. Rick Scott kicked off his reelection campaign at a Jacksonville auto dealership Monday morning, touting his recently approved plan to rollback nearly $400 million in car registration fees.Shortly after taking the podium at Volkswagen of Orange Park, Scott led the crowd of supporters in a chant of the campaign's new slogan: "Let's Keep Working" — a play on the Scott's 2012 "Let's Get To Work" campaign.
Scott had visited the dealership back in December to rally support behind the proposal, a signature of his pledge to reduce Florida taxes and fees by $500 million. Those registration fee cuts go into effect this fall.
"That means $500 million where families can buy a car, buy a house, put food on the table and send their child to school," he said.
Scott also highlighted other breaks in the budget approved by legislators last week, including tax holiday for hurricane preparation supplies and a three-day sales tax break for back-to-school shopping.
He was joined by several local, state leaders and lawmakers including U.S. Rep. Ander Crenshaw, Jacksonville Sheriff John Rutherford and Florida Sen. John Thrasher.
"This governor said what he's going to do and with his leadership, he delivered $500 million," Thrasher said.
Seventy-three-year-old Jacksonville resident Joe Andrews was among the drove of supporters at the dealership.
"Jacksonville is a very political city, hopefully a successful and succeeding city, so I think it’s good place for him to start and I was glad to see him here," he said.
Despite a favorable legislative session for the governor and the show of support Monday, the gubernatorial race remains an uphill battle for the governor. Currently, he trails challenger and former Gov. Charlie Crist by 10 percentage points, according to a poll from Quinnipiac University.
Scott will be touring eight other cities throughout Florida to highlight the tax breaks, including Gainesville, Orlando and Miami.
You can follow Rhema Thompson on Twitter @RhemaThompson.
