Demings launches bid to oust Rubio from Senate

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — U.S. Rep. Val Demings launched a bid for the U.S. Senate on Wednesday, raising hope among Democrats of ousting Florida’s Republican Sen. Marco Rubio from the evenly divided chamber.

With the Senate now split 5050 between Democrats and Republicans, the Florida race will undoubtedly be among the nation’s most high profile and expensive battles next year.

The Orlando congresswoman used a video on social media to begin introducing herself to a wider audience. In the video, Demings showcases her rise from a working class background to become the police chief of one of Florida’s largest cities before ascending to the U.S. Congress.

“When you grow up in the South, poor, Black and female, you have to have faith in progress and opportunity,” she says in her video.

Demings was on the short list of potential running mates for nowPresident Biden after helping lead the first impeachment against thenPresident Donald Trump.

In her Senate announcement video, Demings takes aim at Trump, calling him a “lawless president.” Then she takes aim at Rubio.

“There are some in Washington who prefer the same old tired ways of doing business,” she says, “too tired to fight the efforts to suppress the people’s vote. They fall back to tired talking points and backwards solutions.”

Rubio hit back Wednesday, calling Demings, who was first elected to Congress in 2016, a “far left extremist” with an undistinguished legislative record.

“Look, I’ve always known that my opponent for the Senate was going to be a far left liberal Democrat. Today we just found out which one of them Chuck Schumer’s picked,” Rubio says in a video, referring to the top Democrat in the Senate. He called her a “donothing” member of the U.S. House.

That’s an argument Democrats have also made in the Senate against Rubio, who they charge has been more focused on pursuing political ambition, not accomplishment. Rubio announced he would not run for reelection six years ago to make a bid for the White House in 2016 but abandoned that effort after getting little traction.

To face off with Rubio in November 2022, Demings would have to first win the Democratic primary. It remains to be seen if any other Democratic heavy hitters will get into the race.