{"id":55715,"date":"2022-10-18T21:25:14","date_gmt":"2022-10-19T01:25:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/?p=55715"},"modified":"2022-10-18T21:25:25","modified_gmt":"2022-10-19T01:25:25","slug":"takeaways-from-u-s-senate-debate-between-sen-marco-rubio-and-rep-val-demings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/2022\/10\/takeaways-from-u-s-senate-debate-between-sen-marco-rubio-and-rep-val-demings\/","title":{"rendered":"Takeaways from U.S. Senate debate between Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Val Demings"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The word “liar” was tossed out a few times, along with plenty of other tough language as Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and his Democratic opponent, U.S. Rep. Val Demings, met on the debate stage in a heated matchup Tuesday night on the campus of Palm Beach State College.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Demings often was on the offensive as she tries to unseat a two-term incumbent and shakeup a race where polls show her lagging, in a state that increasingly has trended red.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A practiced debater, Rubio deflected on some hot-button issues, such as abortion, and tried to ignore others as he sought to avoid major missteps in the home stretch. Here are five takeaways from the debate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rubio deflects on abortion<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of Rubio’s biggest liabilities may be his position on abortion, being on record opposing the procedure without exceptions for victims of rape or incest at a time when abortion rights have become a major motivating issue for many voters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pressed on that position Tuesday, Rubio said it’s irrelevant because such a bill will never get a vote in Congress and noted he has supported abortion bills with exceptions for victims of rape and incest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rubio also tried to go on offense, accusing Demings of having “extreme” views on abortion. Rubio claimed Demings supports abortions up until the point of birth. Demings said he was misrepresenting her position, which is supporting abortion up until the point of fetal viability, though she didn’t specify the number of weeks for an abortion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSenator how gullible do you really think Florida voters are?\u201d Demings said, a phrase she would repeat often throughout the debate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No climate change acknowledgment<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first question of the debate touched on Hurricane Ian and the impacts of climate change, with the candidates asked what the federal government can do to protect Florida from sea level rise and “more frequent monster storms.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We have got to get serious about climate change,” Demings said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rubio largely ignored the question and talked about helping communities recover from the storm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“These communities immediately need emergency relief,” Rubio said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Climate change may not be the top issue on the minds of many voters, but refusing to acknowledge it’s impacts also comes with political risks as the planet warms and climate problems compound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rubio says ‘no’ to Rick Scott’s plan<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“No,” Rubio said quickly when asked if supports fellow Florida Sen. Rick Scott’s proposal that \u201cAll federal legislation sunsets in 5 years.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rubio’s speed in distancing himself from Scott’s plan illustrates how toxic it has become, and how it is weighing on Republicans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“If a law is worth keeping, Congress can pass it again,” Scott’s plan states. That has led to worries it could end Social Security and Medicare, something Scott denies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tough talk<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Demings had a lot of tough talk for Rubio, saying he has “never done anything but run his mouth.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She later added that “I think there was a time when you did not lie in order to win.” That exchange came when Rubio accused Demings of accomplishing nothing in Congress, sparking her ire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The senator has obviously resorted to lying, cheating and trying to steal,” she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Demings then dismissed Rubio’s accomplishments, notably the Paycheck Protection Program, which gave money to businesses forced to close during the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That prompted some tough talk from Rubio, who said he was at the Capitol trying to prevent an economic meltdown while Demings and Democrats “were in their pajamas doing zoom calls.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cWe would have had a meltdown in this country, we saved millions of small businesses.\u201d Rubio said. “If we had not done that there would have been a depression in this country.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Demings kept wagging and pointing her finger in Rubio’s direction throughout the debate, and addressing him directly and, at times, emotionally, such as when she accused him of doing nothing to prevent gun violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Border debate<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second half of the debate kicked off with a question about the Biden administration invoking a Trump-era policy known as Title 42 to deny Venezuelan migrants from requesting asylum at the U.S. border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many Venezuelan migrants live in Florida, where they have relocated after fleeing the oppressive regime of Nicolas Maduro. They are a growing voting bloc in the state, and Rubio argued  “No one has done more on the issue of Venezuela than I have and Cuba and Nicaragua.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that “I sympathize deeply” with those migrants, but added that \u201cthere is no country that can permit or afford 5,000 people a day arriving at your border and sing the magic words and getting asylum.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rubio then accused Demings of not acknowledging the crisis on the southern border with Mexico.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked about solutions to solving the crisis, Demings said \u201cwe need to make sure that the men and women at the borders have the resources that they need.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am a fan of boots on the ground,\u201d she added without any specifics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rubio fired back that Democrats and Demings \u201cdemonize\u201d the U.S. Border Patrol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That angered Demings: \u201cWho demonized?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Said Rubio: \u201cYou have.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a lie,\u201d Demings responded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The word “liar” was tossed out a few times, along with plenty of other tough language as Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and his Democratic opponent, U.S. Rep. Val Demings, met on the debate… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":55716,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[1833],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55715"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55715"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55715\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55718,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55715\/revisions\/55718"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}