Val Demings

2022 - 10 - 19

Val Demings goes on attack against Marco Rubio in Florida Senate ... (NPR)

Democratic U.S. Rep. Val Demings of Florida went on the attack Tuesday in her first debate against Republican Sen. Marco Rubio.

"Everything she is for would have done nothing to stop any of those shootings," Rubio said. "The only thing she does is vote 100% with Pelosi." To address inflation, Rubio said the U.S. "What we know is that the senator supports no exceptions," Demings responded. What day is it and what is Marco Rubio saying?" Val Demings of Florida went on the attack Tuesday in her first debate against Republican Sen.

The only Florida Senate debate between Val Demings and Marco ... (Tampa Bay Times)

Demings, a former police chief elected to the House in 2016, said Rubio voted against the interests of Florida seniors and women with his stances on entitlement ...

In the lead-up to final passage, Rubio threatened to withhold his support unless negotiators allowed more lower-income American families who do not owe federal income taxes to claim up to $1,400 of the available credit. [bill ](https://www.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/senate-bill/886/all-info)to bar access to abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy; it included an exception for rape and incest. Demings was referring to provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act, which President Joe Biden signed into law in August. In a 2015 interview, Rubio said he compromised his view regarding those exceptions to “save lives in this country.” He made the same point in the Oct. Rubio has long called for changes to Social Security and Medicare, as the programs face long-term financing shortfalls. The pair broke on more than 30 votes in the [ 2017-18 session](https://projects.propublica.org/represent/members/D000627-val-demings/compare-votes/P000197-nancy-pelosi/115). Demings supports abortion up to “viability,” or when a fetus can survive outside the womb. He voted for budgets that included reductions in future Medicare spending, which would have resulted in beneficiaries paying more out of pocket. Fetal viability is generally around 24 weeks into a pregnancy, according to the National Library of Medicine. Pelosi has participated in about [13% of the 925 votes](https://projects.propublica.org/represent/members/D000627-val-demings/compare-votes/P000197-nancy-pelosi/117) in this session. Rubio snubbed calls from Democratic lawmakers to enact legislation restricting firearm sales after the May 24 elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. The bills renamed post office buildings, including one after Robert German, a Windermere police officer who was shot and killed while working in 2014.

"What in the Hell Did He Just Say?": Val Demings Calls Out Marco ... (Vanity Fair)

Rubio, who is leading the polls in Florida's Senate race, called the gun safety bill even some Republicans supported "crazy," and reversed his position on a ...

But the Republican incumbent has held a [consistent, but somewhat narrow lead](https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/senate/2022/florida/) in polls throughout the race, and it’s [unclear](https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/10/republicans-embarrassed-themselves-in-senate-debates-and-it-might-not-matter) whether either candidate’s performance on the debate stage will make much of an impact. [defensive performance](https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/politics/elections/2022/10/18/florida-senate-debate-takeaways-marco-rubio-val-demings-congress/10525859002/) from Rubio, and an impressive one by Demings, a three-term representative and former police chief who emerged as a [rising star](https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/06/val-demings-is-on-a-mission) in the Democratic Party after helping lead the first impeachment of Donald Trump in 2019. Notably, though, he voted against the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which included [incentives for states to pass red flag laws](https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/06/congress-may-actually-be-on-the-verge-of-doing-something-on-gun-safety). It’s by identifying “these people that are acting this way and stop them before they act.” The way to do that, he said, is through red flag laws, a version of which he [introduced](https://www.rubio.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=A1C5B7D3-D60C-42E0-BEE9-AAA74B1416D4) in 2018. Oz’s Senate Campaign](https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/10/dr-oz-dog-killing-pennsylvania-senate-race?itm_content=footer-recirc&itm_campaign=more-great-stories-101122)? [Marriage Problems](https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2022/10/tom-brady-gisele-bundchen-10-year-old-marriage-problems-going-on-forever-divorce?itm_content=footer-recirc&itm_campaign=more-great-stories-101122)Are Reportedly “10 Years Old” Rubio, who has previously suggested he would support a total abortion ban, acknowledged that he was “100 percent pro-life” on Tuesday, but tried to avoid being pinned down on an actual policy, saying only that he didn’t view a ban with no exceptions as being politically feasible. “The fundamental issue is, why are these kids, why are these people, going out there and massacring these people?” Rubio asked. [Gisele Bündchen’s New Chapter](https://archive.vanityfair.com/article/2009/5/and-god-created-gisele?itm_content=footer-recirc&itm_campaign=more-great-stories-101122)(2009) [Best Horror Movies](https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/10/best-horror-movies?itm_content=footer-recirc&itm_campaign=more-great-stories-101122)to Keep You Up at Night [Lizzo Is Here to Talk About All of It](https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2022/10/lizzo-is-here-to-talk-about-all-of-it?itm_content=footer-recirc&itm_campaign=more-great-stories-101122)—That Flute, That Lyric, Her Man, and More Senator Marco Rubio affirmed Tuesday evening that he’s not only an anti-abortion absolutist — he’s also a Second Amendment extremist.

Val Demings, Marco Rubio spar over abortion, voting rights in lone ... (Orlando Weekly)

Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and his Democratic challenger, Congresswoman Val Demings, quickly got combative Tuesday as they sought to sway remaining ...

“We have to continue to support Ukraine. Rubio, a former state House speaker, was first elected to the U.S. Rubio said a unified NATO is needed for actions involving Russia and that the U.S. Former President Donald Trump and other Republicans have stoked questions about the election system. My first term in the United States House I passed legislation to help law-enforcement officers with no health programs.” A recent Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy survey showed Rubio up 47 percent to 41 percent. “We cannot do with some of these crazy policies that are coming from the left, that (Congresswoman) Demings has supported,” Rubio said. “I don't know what happened to you. 8 election for a seat the GOP must retain if it wants to take control of the U.S. We cannot afford to have a nuclear attack. Rubio had to realize that tonight, while debating congresswoman, the chief, Val Demings, that she was not here to be run over, to be pushed to the side or to be stepped on,” Powell said. [Congresswoman Val Demings,](/news/orlandos-val-demings-to-face-marco-rubio-in-florida-senate-race-32312322)quickly got combative Tuesday as they sought to sway remaining undecided voters in their only head-to-head meeting ahead of the Nov.

Val Demings Eviscerated Marco Rubio in Their Senate Debate (Jezebel)

The former police detective tore into the Republican senator for his stances on abortion and gun violence and his lying in general.

[Demings’s congressional record](https://www.congress.gov/member/val-demings/D000627?pageSize=250&q=%7B%22congress%22%3A%22all%22%2C%22bill-status%22%3A%22law%22%7D), a few of her sponsored bills have become law. [fire erupted at a ballot drop box](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/california-ballot-drop-box-fire-suspected-arson/) in Los Angeles county. [average of recent polling](https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/senate/2022/florida/) shows Rubio has a nearly five-point lead over her. As the bill sponsor, Demings passed legislation renaming federal buildings in Florida after a cop killed on the job and a local longtime politician. “She’s been in Congress for over half a decade and she’s never passed a bill. Sadly for him, Demings prep team just seemed to do a better job. “Of course the senator who has never run anything at all but his mouth would know nothing about helping people and being there for people when they are in trouble,” Demings [said](https://www.npr.org/2022/10/19/1129849444/val-demings-goes-on-attack-against-marco-rubio-in-florida-senate-debate) when talking about pandemic relief funds. “Imagine if someone decides, ‘Oh there’s a drop box, I’m just going to put some explosives in it, and blow it up, burn all those ballots and now those votes don’t count at all.” “As a police detective who investigated cases of rape and incest, no Senator I don’t think it’s OK for a girl to be raped and to carry the seed of her rapist. “This one’s real,” Demings wrote, in an Congresswoman and Democratic Senate candidate Val Demings (D-Fla.) actually stood up for abortion rights in her debate against Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) Tuesday night—and powerfully.

Val Demings Rakes Marco Rubio through the Smoldering Embers of ... (Esquire.com)

At their first debate on Tuesday, Rep. Val Demings came out forcefully against Sen. Marco Rubio's track record, excoriating his track record on abortion, ...

So here was Demings, cranking the blades up to 11 and summoning all the old monsters of memory, including a clear view of the ruins of his once-promising career. Two days later the unit saved the Union forces during the last day of battle. I hope nobody tells the people of Indiana about this! That was enough to mark him as The Future—or, as Time put it on [the cover, "The Republican Savior](https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/time-magazine-declares-rubio-the-republican-savior/)". Rubio ran for president and was etherized in a debate with Chris Christie, who was then d/b/a the proxy for El Caudillo del Mar-A-Lago. She shared her impressions with the gang on the landfill website Truth Social. There the 17th Indiana, the 98th Illinois and two sections of Lilly's Battery along with Minty's Cavalry made a valiant stand to hold off an entire Confederate Army Corps. Afterwards, the former president himself tagged Rubio as “Little Marco,” and it stuck. Even sycophancy and abandoning everything that made him a rising political star didn’t help. Time and again, she brought the righteous fire, and time and again Rubio just stood there, caught in a kind of vacant sadness in which he seemed to be flashing back to the night in 2012 when he came to Tampa and delivered a well-received keynote address at what may turn out to be the last marginally sane Republican National Convention. Val Demings](https://www.npr.org/2022/10/19/1129849444/val-demings-goes-on-attack-against-marco-rubio-in-florida-senate-debate), his Democratic opponent, and Demings fed him into a wood chipper. Have you ever seen anyone leave the debate stage in an emotional body bag?