By JACQUELINE BOSTICK / The News Herald ;PANAMA CITY BEACH — As the governor’s only announced competitor so far in the 2014 gubernatorial race, former state Sen. Nan Rich, D-Broward County, is spending her time criss-crossing Florida before the campaign is in full swing.

The Democratic Women’s Club of Bay County hosted Rich as a guest speaker during the Democratic Women’s Club of Florida quarterly meeting held at Edgewater Beach and Golf Resort this weekend.

Saturday, Rich hailed the victories won by Democrats and demonstrated how those victories were staunchly opposed by Gov. Rick Scott.

“We have a governor who has been opposed to the Affordable Care Act since before he became governor … Now that it is the law of the land … this governor is still fighting it,” Rich said, noting that Wednesday the governor’s office had to back off from a $26 billion figure the governor gave in a press conference Monday in Washington D.C. about how much Floridians would pay for Medicaid expansion.

Rich called it “totally erroneous” and “totally untrue.”

“I have stayed true to Democratic principles my 12 years in the Legislature and actually all of my adult life,” Rich said during a luncheon.

She also brought the audience’s attention to the “great backlash to voter suppression” in November elections.

“It is very clear that people want a change in the priorities and in the leadership of the state of Florida, particularly the governor’s office,” Rich said.

The desire for change is what Patricia Byrd said would help a Democrat win.

“People are so disenchanted with Rick Scott,” Byrd said, who is the local club’s vice president and representative to the state organization.

“I think any Democratic candidate has a wonderful chance at beating Rick Scott because his popularity is so low.”

Rich said she will take advantage of being the only declared runner.

“I am crisscrossing the state,” she said. “I think every community is important. You don’t write off any county because you think there’s a smaller number of Democrats.

“These are the activists, these are the people that really care, that motivate people out in their communities,” she added.

Ellen Holt of Okaloosa County said she believed Rich has the right idea about early networking, especially in Democrat-minority areas.

“She’s a consensus builder,” Holt said.

By announcing early, “she has more time to get to other areas of the state that may not be normally in a place to get to — some  of the rural counties — like  up here in the Panhandle and then yet still get to your Orlandos and Tampa and that kind of thing.”