In their lone Florida U.S. Senate debate on Tuesday night, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio and Democrat Rep. Val Demings sparred on issues ranging from abortion to gun control and more.
Todd McDermott of WPBF 25 served as the moderator for the “Before You Vote” discussion, which took place on the Lake Worth campus of Palm Beach State College.
When asked what they would do to assist families with inflation, incumbent Rubio and challenger Demings traded punches, and the discussion quickly turned tense.
Demings retorted, “Of course the senator would know nothing about assisting people and being there for people when they are in distress. The senator has never ran anything at all other than his mouth.”
When Democrats were conducting zoom calls while at home in their jammies, we approved the Paycheck Protection Plan, according to Rubio. “The congresswoman likes to talk about helping people, but she has never passed a law, she has served in Congress for more than five years, and she has never passed a single measure.”
Demings subsequently said, “Marco Rubio, I’m extremely disappointed in you because I think there was a period when you did not lie to win, I don’t know what happened to you.
“Not one federal law that she sponsored or helped enact is now in effect. She may have mentioned two post offices, and I have done the same “said Rubio.
When both were questioned about abortion, the attacks persisted.
Rubio declared himself to be pro-life yet has backed certain abortion-related legislation.
Every abortion-related measure he has ever sponsored and supported, he added, “has exceptions, every single one of them does because that’s what can pass and that’s what the majority of people accept.” “Rep. Demings is the abortion radical in this election. She is in favor of all limits and constraints. She is in favor of taxpayer-funded abortion on demand for any cause, at any time, even right up until the moment of birth.”
Demings asserted that she supports the freedom of choice up to the point of viability and criticized Rubio for making allowances for crimes like rape and incest.
Demings declared: “To stand over there and say I support abortions up to the time of birth is just a lie. “He’s good at making his lips utter anything today, by the way. What is Marco Rubio saying today and what day is it?”
Rubio questioned Demings on her definition of viability.
That’s the ambiguous response that everyone of them gives, Rubio added.
According to Demings, “I believe that the lady, her family, her doctor, and her faith are the ones who make those decisions.” No matter how preoccupied you are with a woman’s body and her freedom to make her own decisions, the senator said, “We are not returning to a time where women are regarded like second-class citizens or property.”
When asked if he agreed with a ban on the sale of AR-15-style guns to those under the age of 21, Demings criticized Rubio’s stance on gun control.
Demings said that you had done nothing to reduce gun violence or keep lethal firearms out of the hands of criminals.
According to Rubio, it is more crucial to identify potential mass shooters and put an end to them before they start their crimes.
The main problem, according to Rubio, is “why these youngsters and these guys are going out there and massacring people when many people own AR-15s and they don’t murder anyone.”
Demings, a former police chief in Orlando, is presently serving as a congressman representing central Florida. In the Democratic primary in August, she easily won.
Rubio, the senior U.S. Senator for the state, was first elected in 2010. In 2016, he defeated Democrat Patrick Murphy with a margin of victory of over 8%.
