Last week, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., exchanged fire with U.S. Rep. Val Demings, D-Fla., the favorite to win the Democratic nomination to challenge him in November.
Over the weekend, at a GOP event in Polk County, Rubio looked to tie Demings to the Democratic leadership in Washington and hit her on the economy.
“This is an election where people that may disagree with you or me on a bunch of issues but really think the country’s headed in the wrong direction think we need to send some people up [to Washington] that think we need to stop this direction and put us back on the right one, and bring some common sense back to politics,” Rubio said.
“My opponent [Val Demings] has voted with Pelosi 100 percent of the time,” Rubio said. “If you vote with Pelosi 100 percent of the time, I don’t think that reflects common sense or is what Florida looks like.
“We’re not just deciding which party is in charge or which team wins. At stake is the identity of the nation. At stake is what all these young people that are here, what the country is going to look like in 10 or 15 years,” he continued.
Rubio’s team also hit Demings on immigration insisting her record in Congress includes “voting against legislation that would have allowed for the detention and deportation of illegal immigrant gang members, like those in MS-13; voting against the border wall and security funding; voting in favor of sanctuary cities and illegal immigrants voting” The Rubio campaign also insisted “Demings recently reaffirmed her support for eliminating Title 42, which gives border patrol the ability to turn away illegal immigrants – she’s supported the move for over a year.”
In the meantime, with a draft decision leaked earlier this month showing that five justices on the U.S. Supreme Court are ready to overturn Roe v. Wade, Demings looked to define the race on abortion.
“Marco Rubio wants to overturn Roe v. Wade. I would vote to save it,” Demings noted.
“In the U.S. Senate, I will be a fierce advocate for women’s rights and a public servant for the needs of all Floridians,” she insisted.
The Republican National Committee (RNC) fired back on Demings on the issue.
“Val Demings supports abortion up until the moment of birth. Her barbaric and concerningly inhumane stance on human life is not a change Floridians support,” said Julia Friedland, a spokeswoman for the RNC.
