ORLANDO, Fla. — Who is working for you?

Candidates for Florida’s U.S. Senate seat will have you believe it’s not the other guy.

  • Gov. Scott releases ad that claims Sen. Nelson regularly skipped hearings
  • Nelson campaign manager says the claim is 'bogus'
  • Polls showing race for U.S. Senate seat still narrow

Gov. Rick Scott (R) released a new television ad telling viewers Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson, elected to the Senate in 2000, has regularly skipped work responsibilities during his time in office.

“’No Show Nelson’ has skipped 45 percent of the Senate hearings on national security, including hearings on ISIS, Russia, and North Korea,” the ad proclaims.

“Sen. Nelson’s poor attendance record is exactly what we have come to expect from a Washington career politician,” said the governor.

Scott followed up in a statement, “He feels entitled to Floridians’ votes, but he won’t even go to work.”

It’s an ad that Nelson’s campaign calls “… a concocted false attack based on a portion of government records.”

Ryan Brown, spokesman for Bill Nelson’s reelection campaign said Nelson “… has attended 104 of 126 Armed Services hearings, informal meetings, sessions and briefings, including more than two dozen that were closed or classified.”

Congressional records compiled by GovTrack.us shows Senator Bill Nelson has an overall 98% attendance record in Congress.

Records show since 2001
, Nelson has missed 2.3 percent of total votes, missing 128 of 5,493 roll call votes.

“This is yet another bogus claim by Rick Scott that’s flat-out false and it shows how desperate he is getting,” Ryan Brown, Nelson campaign spokesman said. “Rick Scott is just making stuff up. He’s spent $50 million attacking Nelson on TV and, according to two new polls out today, he is actually losing ground. That’s because Floridians know Rick Scott has done a poor job as governor, destroyed our environment, and secretively enriched himself while in public office.”

Nelson’s campaign fired back at Scott, drawing aim at the governor’s own schedule.

A Spectrum News review of the governor’s available daily schedules dating back to 2011 shows Scott has more than 230 days listing “No Scheduled Events.”

There are hundreds of more days that list just a handful of phone calls on the agenda, and a few that show an entire day’s agenda.

Spectrum News asked Gov. Scott about his schedule accountability during an appearance Wednesday at Publix headquarters in Polk County.

Scott told Spectrum News’ Greg Angel that his public schedule does not fully reflect his work as governor.

“If you look at what I’ve done over the last eight years… on a typical day I’ll be in one, maybe two or three cities a day,” Scott said. “I meet with a lot of people around the state. I’ve shaken the hands of probably 500,000 people. I travel the state every day and try to listen to what their issues are.”

Scott defended his campaign ad and work schedule.

Most polls show the race to win Florida’s U.S. Senate seat is a narrow one.

It’s also lining up to be one of the most expensive Senate races, with both candidates spending more than $30 million, according to data from the Federal Elections Commission.