Demings plans to challenge Rubio
MIAMI >> Rep. Val Demings, D-Fla., intends to run for the Senate next year, two people with knowledge of her plans and the party’s strategy on Senate races said Tuesday. Her entry into the race gives Democrats a high-profile challenger against Sen. Marco Rubio, the incumbent Re- publican.
Demings is expected to formally announce her candidacy in the coming weeks, according to one of her advisers. Her plans were first reported by Politico.
Her impending campaign comes as Florida Democrats, battered from mounting electoral losses there since 2016 and by former President Donald Trump’s comfortable win in the state last year, jostle over how to best take on Rubio and Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, who also faces reelection next year.
Demings, a former police chief who represents a district in Orlando, had been weighing whether to run for Senate or for governor. DeSantis is a top target for Democrats because if he wins reelection, he will be considered an early favorite for the Republican presidential nomination in the 2024 election. Early signals suggested Demings was leaning toward the governor race: When Rep. Charlie Crist declared his Democratic candidacy against DeSantis this month, her team released a polished biographical web video on the same day.
But DeSantis is a formidable foe whose political committee raised nearly $14 million in April, an intimidating sum for his would-be challengers. Besides Crist, Democrats also expect Nikki Fried, the Florida agriculture commissioner, to run for governor. (She has teased an announcement for June 1.)
Demings ultimately favored a Senate run because she could continue the legislative work she has done in the House but make a bigger difference, said her adviser, who requested anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
In the House, Demings made a name for herself as an impeachment manager during Trump’s first trial last year. She was also a contender to be selected as Joe Biden’s vice presidential choice last summer.
Demings could find herself running against familiar faces: Among the Democrats also considering Senate runs are two from the Orlando area, Rep. Stephanie Murphy and former Rep. Alan Grayson.