Rep. Val Demings is in the final home stretch of her campaign to unseat Sen. Marco Rubio in Florida and she’s putting up one hell of a fight all the way to the bitter end.
Yesterday, the congresswoman took to Twitter to blast Rubio for his lack of leadership when it comes to gun violence after the 2016 mass shooting at Pulse, the gay nightclub in Orlando, where 49 people were killed and 53 more were wounded by gunman Omar Mateen.
“Shame on Marco Rubio for using the Pulse Nightclub shooting as an excuse to run for re-election after his failed presidential run, and then do nothing about gun violence,” she tweeted.
Shame on Marco Rubio for using the Pulse Nightclub shooting as an excuse to run for re-election after his failed presidential run, and then do nothing about gun violence.
— Val Demings (@valdemings) November 7, 2022
In 2016, after pledging he would not run for re-election, Rubio said he changed his mind after the Pulse massacre.
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“Obviously, I haven’t thought about it from a political perspective, but [the shooting] most certainly has impacted my thinking, in general, about a lot of things,” he told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt at the time.
After winning reelection in part by leaning into the tragedy, however, Rubio has shown no real interest in or action toward effecting change on gun control and, in fact, holds an A+ rating with the NRA.
Related: Val Demings once again showed she’s a total boss, in case anyone forgot
He’s also proven to be an enemy of LGBTQ people.
In June, he voted against codifying same-sex marriage into federal law. He also opposes non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people as well as gender neutral bathrooms. And he has a 0% rating with the HRC.
Demings tore into Rubio on this issue during their debate last month as well, when he tried arguing, as Republicans so often do, that gun violence in America is because of mental illness and not because guns, particularly assault weapons, are so damn easy to acquire.
Demings: You used the Pulse nightclub shooting as your inspiration to run again in 2016 and yet you’ve done nothing.. nothing pic.twitter.com/hr5rxt0lx8
— Acyn (@Acyn) October 18, 2022
Having Demings in the U.S. Senate would not only be a victory for Democrats and voters who would like to see stronger gun laws, it would be a victory for LGBTQ people.
The former-police-chief-turned-U.S.-congresswoman, who has been endorsed by HRC, is a longtime a champion for marginalized groups, especially LGBTQ people, Black people, and women.
Related: Can we please invite Val Demings to every Pride celebration from here on out?
Unfortunately, after out-fundraising Rubio and climbing in the polls for months, she’s hit a bit of a roadblock in the final weeks of her campaign. FiveThirtyEight currently finds him leading by 8.3 points.
But Demings isn’t throwing in the towel just yet. She’s still out on the campaign trail, spending her last few hours as a candidate meeting with small business owners in South Dade and tweeting the hashtag #RetireRubio.
1?? more day till we #RetireRubio
— Val Demings (@valdemings) November 7, 2022
Meanwhile, Rubio spent the last full day of his reelection campaign making a joint appearance with Donald Trump, the guy who nicknamed him “Marco Rubio” and called him a “choke artist” and a “meltdown guy” during the 2016 Presidential campaign.
Mack
He had to run after the Pulse murders, he had to help protect the NRA.
still_onthemark
‘Rubio spent the last full day of his reelection campaign making a joint appearance with Donald Trump, the guy who nicknamed him “Marco Rubio”…’
um… were you going for “Little Marco” there?
In 2020 I hoped Biden would choose Val Demings for VP instead of Harris, she would have been a much better VP! She has run a good campaign against Rubio and I wish there weren’t quite so many closed-minded deplorables in Florida.
bachy
GO VAL GO!!!!
LumpyPillows
I really want Val to win this race. Please, Florida.
Salacious1
It’s over. Little Marco & Desanctimonious were never in any trouble. The Governor built more fortresses of Republican redistributed strongholds than the Crusaders did in the Holy Land.
Say goodbye to my little friend, democracy.
Stefano
You should thank your fellow Hipanics who are voting more and more for the Republican party…they don’t give a shit about women’s rights, 2SLGBTQ+ and other minorities. Only money matters.