Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.), the Democratic pick in the Florida Senate race in which Republican Marco Rubio is running for re-election, tore into the GOP contender’s stances on gun policy, abortion rights, and economic issues during a debate between the two this week.
“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 during a discussion about inflation. “No one planned the pandemic. But our response to it is everything. Individuals were hurting, families were hurting, businesses were hurting. We passed the CARES Act, which the Senator supported. There were some problems in the CARES Act with the Paycheck Protection Program, that you love to take credit for. Some say it was poorly written. Some say it didn’t help the people that it was supposed to, didn’t save the jobs that it was supposed to. There was a way to fix the problems in the PPP through the American Rescue Plan and help people that were in trouble.” Rubio opposed the American Rescue Plan, which was passed in early 2021.
“People who are the families of victims of gun violence just heard that, and they’re asking themselves, what in the hell did he just say?” Demings remarked later on during a discussion of gun policy. “Senator, you used the Pulse nightclub shooting as your inspiration to run again for the Senate in 2016. Pulse is in my district. And yet, you’ve done nothing. Nothing to help address gun violence and get dangerous weapons out of the hands of dangerous people. Florida! After Parkland, after you made promises that you had no intentions on keeping to the parents of Parkland, Florida passed legislation raising the age to have an assault weapon, passed red flag laws that we’ve seen 7,000+ instances where they’ve been used now. Our primary responsibility is the safety of Floridians. And Senator, 24 years in elected office and you have not yet risen to that occasion. And then when asked about it, you say something that makes no sense.”
During the debate, Rubio refused to say whether he would vote for or against an abortion ban at the federal level that didn’t have any exceptions. In contrast, Demings said — in contrast to Rubio’s characterization of her as essentially supporting abortion at any time — she supports access to the procedure up to the point of viability. Rubio contested that framework, but it has been thoroughly established and explored in U.S. law — before the Supreme Court undid Roe v. Wade. After a contingent of GOP Senators particularly vulnerable to Democrats are no longer up for re-election, there’s nothing stopping them from proposing harsh abortion restrictions if they remain in office — and potentially passing such restrictions if they have the majority. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.), unlike Rubio’s current support for a 15-week federal abortion ban, has spoken of making abortion policy decisions at the state level. If he wins re-election this year in his arguably closer state, how quickly might his stance change?
Check out debate clips below:
"I'm really disappointed in you, Marco Rubio, because I think there was time in which you did not lie in order to win" — Val Demings pic.twitter.com/kZPzRfhFJN
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 19, 2022
Marco Rubio struggles to explain why he no longer supports raising the minimum age to purchase AR-15s pic.twitter.com/zNkmROUDLp
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 19, 2022
Val Demings hammered Marco Rubio tonight after he said he wouldn’t support a ban on assault weapons for people under 21: “You made promises that you had no intentions of keeping to the parents of Parkland.” pic.twitter.com/0zlPajJequ
— Ron Filipkowski 🇺🇦 (@RonFilipkowski) October 18, 2022
