Val Demings, Marco Rubio face off in heated debate as election day nears
MIAMI -Democratic U.S. Rep. Val Demings went on the attack Tuesday in her first debate against Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, castigating him as a serial liar, while Rubio criticized her for supporting President Joe Biden's economic agenda. Each accused the other of being an extremist on abortion.
Rubio, a two-term senator, and Demings, a three-term congresswoman and former Orlando police chief, faced questions on topics including inflation, voting rights, gun violence, immigration and foreign policy.
When asked to explain his position on abortion, Rubio skirted a question on whether he would support a federal abortion ban with no exceptions and instead called Demings' position extreme because she would not say what limits on abortion she would support.
"Every bill I have ever sponsored on abortion and every bill I've ever voted for has exceptions," Rubio said.
"What we know is that the senator supports no exceptions," Demings responded. "He can make his mouth say anything today. He is good at that, by the way. What day is it and what is Marco Rubio saying?"
Following the Supreme Court's ruling in June that overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion, Rubio has expressed his personal opposition to abortion in all cases while saying he'd back abortion-restricting statutes that include exceptions. Demings supports abortion access at least until fetal viability and said physicians should be the ones to determine.
According to recent polls, voters say inflation and the economy overall is a dominant issue when it comes to their decision.
When asked about inflation and role COVID relief may have played, Rubio had this to say:
"The first thing we have to stop doing spending that kind of money. We had already done two pandemic reliefs, this came on top of it. And they were warned. Democrats were warned by Larry Summers, by other Democrat economists: you do this, you're going to fire up inflation. Number two is we've got to begin to produce American oil again. Why are we begging Saudi Arabia for oil? Why are we begging Venezuela and Iran for oil? We're producing 1 million barrels a day less in America than we used to do just a couple years ago."
Demings responded by saying:
"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. The Senator supported it. 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, and didn't save the jobs that it was supposed to. There was a way to fix the problem in the PPP through the American Rescue Plan and help people that were in trouble, but you played politics."
With the recent mass shooting in North Carolina and the Parkland shooter trial just wrapping up, they also debated matters of gun control legislation.
"What makes no sense is that we are going to pass laws that only law-abiding people will follow, and criminals will continue to violate," said Rubio. "The truth of the matter is, at the end of the day, Americans have a 2nd Amendment right to protect themselves. And these killers out there, if they are intent on killing, as they are, they have found multiple ways to get a hold of weapons and cause mass destruction."
"This isn't about the 2nd Amendment, it is about taking dangerous guns out of the hands of dangerous people, and the overwhelming majority of people in our nation want us to do just that," Demings said. "How long will you watch people being gunned down in 1st grade, 4th grade, high school, college, church, synagogue, a movie theater, mall, and a night club, and do nothing?"
Rubio stands to benefit from the widening voter registration advantage that Republicans hold over Democrats in the increasingly conservative state. The rightward shift will likely expand in areas such as Miami-Dade County, home to Rubio.
Demings has criticized Rubio for his attendance record in the Senate, while the senator has called Demings a "rubber stamp" for the Biden agenda, as the president contends with inflation pressures and rising gas prices.
But on Tuesday, Rubio also attacked Demings for not passing legislation in Washington, saying all she had done was get two post offices named for police officers who died in the line of duty. Demings angrily rejected his characterization.
"It's embarrassing that you think that honoring a person who was a hero by naming a federal building after them is nothing," she said.
Demings repeatedly accused Rubio of distorting her record.
"I am really disappointed in you because I think there was a time when you did not lie in order to win," she said.