Saying she’s ready for a “tough fight,” Democratic U.S. Rep. Val Demings of Orlando officially launched her campaign Wednesday to unseat Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio next year.
“I know how to get through tough times, and I think we would all agree that we’re in some really tough, unusual times right now,” Demings told the Orlando Sentinel on Tuesday. “But I’m not afraid of a tough fight.
“We are dealing with some critical issues,” she added. “And we need bold, courageous leaders to deal with those issues. And the bottom line is, too many times Marco Rubio did not show up. And when he did, he did not have enough courage to fight for Florida.”
Rubio has tried to get ahead of Demings’ expected announcement by going on the attack, telling Fox News on Monday, “None of them [Demings and other Democrats] will admit to being a socialist. She probably won’t. But she certainly has voted for socialist things.”
“I am not,” Demings said of Rubio’s socialist allegation. “I have dedicated my life to public service. I spent the overwhelming majority of that time, 27 years, as a law enforcement officer. I served as the chief of police. … Desperate people will do and say desperate things. And I don’t blame Rubio and the GOP for being very concerned about me running for the United States Senate against Marco Rubio.”
Demings, 64, a former Orlando police chief, had been on President Biden’s shortlist for a running mate last year before he chose Vice President Kamala Harris. She’s married to Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings, a former Orange sheriff and Orlando police chief.
She’s serving her third term in a strongly Democratic district in west Orange County and has key positions on the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees.
Rubio, seeking his third term in the U.S. Senate, won reelection in 2016 by seven percentage points over Democratic opponent Patrick Murphy and will be a formidable opponent for Demings or any other Democrat in a state that has tilted increasingly more Republican for the past 20 years.
But Demings sees vulnerability in some of Rubio’s recent votes.
“Marco Rubio voted against stimulus checks, he voted against COVID relief for our schools and our small businesses,” Demings said. “And he voted against helping those on the frontlines, our first responders or teachers, our health care workers.”
Demings said protecting voting rights against restrictions passed by Republicans in Florida and other states, especially after the Jan. 6 attack by a pro-Trump mob on the U.S. Capitol, is one of her biggest priorities.
Many of the Democrats’ biggest priorities are being held up in the Senate by the use of the filibuster, which requires 60 out of 100 votes for a bill to come to a vote. Democrats are under increased pressure to scrap the filibuster, and Demings is on board to do it.
“The filibuster has been used as a partisan weapon for decades,” Demings said. “We were not elected to be obstructionists. … We were elected to get things done. And when we talk about protecting some of the most basic rights in this country, the filibuster blocks those things, and we need to get rid of it.”
In the same arena as voting rights, she said, are issues such as equal pay for equal work and opposing discrimination against LGTBQ people.
“We’re seeing one anti-American bill after the other, not just here in Florida,” she said. “Fighting people’s right to vote. Laws that will discriminate against transgender youth, and other discriminatory laws. … If we’re going to be the greatest country in the world, then that means we have to hold America to its promise.”
Demings also called for police reforms, an issue that has gripped American society after the killing of George Floyd and other Black men at the hands of law enforcement officers.
“We [have to] work to improve the criminal justice system and hold the police departments accountable,” she said. “We have to deal with those social ills that cause decay in communities in the first place. We have to get more serious about dealing with mental illness and drug addiction. … We have to get serious about dealing with poverty and homelessness and substandard education and substandard housing.”
But Demings said public safety is still a priority.
“When we talk about the police and the community, we talk about them as if they’re two separate entities,” she said. “But the police are the community, and the community is the police. … And when we talk to some of the most crime-ridden areas, they will tell you [they want] public safety, the reduction of crime, and they want to live in a safe community.”
Demings acknowledged that the Florida Democratic Party has had its problems, with only one statewide official, Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, having been elected since 2012. Florida was won twice by former President Donald Trump, and Rubio’s base of Miami Cubans swung the furthest to the right in 2020.
But Demings said she was the right person to bring together a coalition of voters from every walk of life.
“There is no doubt that the Florida Democratic Party, we need to get our act together,” she said. “We lost some painful races. But the bottom line is, this is about every Democratic group in Florida. … This is about building the most unique coalition of people throughout the state.”
slemongello@orlandosentinel.com
