WEEKLY MESSAGE UPDATE – Rubio for Senate 

– LEADING THE DAY – 

Val Demings Voted Against Hurricane Relief After Irma & Maria

Val Demings this week said: “Floridians deserve better than a Senator who says he’d vote against Hurricane Ian relief.”

• But that’s exactly what she did in 2017 and 2018 after Hurricanes Irma and Maria. 

• First Demings voted against tax relief for victims of Hurricanes Irma, Maria, and Harvey.  

• Then she voted against Senator Rubio’s bill Hurricane Maria Aid package which included billions of dollars in vitally-needed disaster relief funding for Puerto Rico. 

• Her fellow Democrat, Charlie Crist, supported both bills, which passed with bipartisan support.

The best indication of what Val Demings would do in the Senate is what she’s done for the past six years in the House.

• Floridians can’t trust Demings to deliver resources to help Florida rebuild because she’s refused to do so in the past. 

Senator Rubio has already requested supplemental aid, noting “a robust and timely federal response, including through supplemental programs and funding, will be required to ensure that sufficient resources are provided to rebuild critical infrastructure and public services capacity, and to assist our fellow Floridians in rebuilding their lives. These provisions must be made a priority and considered at the earliest opportunity.”

RESOURCES

Miami Herald: Demings knocks Rubio for missing hurricane relief vote. She opposed some similar bills

Val Demings Uses ‘One of the Costliest Hurricanes in U.S. History’ to Raise Campaign Funds

Free Beacon reports: Demings on Wednesday released a campaign video that highlights Hurricane Ian’s “staggering scale of wreckage.” “Death toll in Florida soars after Hurricane Ian demolished entire communities,” one chyron in the video reads. “Ian may be one of the costliest hurricanes in U.S. history,” another says. But that “wreckage” did not stop Demings from attaching a fundraising link to the video, which directs viewers to an ActBlue page that asks for “a generous grassroots donation right now to help my people-powered movement flip Florida blue and expand Democrats’ Senate majority.”

• The Demings campaign’s use of the hurricane as a fundraising ploy is shameful. Florida deserves better. 

Meanwhile, Senator Rubio has been on the ground in Florida, meeting with state and local officials to determine what resources are needed at the federal level. 

– NEWS OF THE WEEK – 

Demings: ‘Borders for me, but not for thee’

Fox News reports that Demings lives in a “24-hour guarded gated community complete with walls separating the neighborhood from others” despite being opposed to the border wall. 

This comes after Demings told MSNBC host Joy Reid, “No, we do not have open borders,” egregiously lying to the American people when nearly five million people have crossed the border during Biden’s presidency. 

Demings has a history of voting for open borders and against keeping Americans safe from drug trafficking, human trafficking, and gang violence. 

Demings voted for:

• Amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants, saying it would “make our immigration system fair” despite giving an unfair advantage to those who came here illegally.

• Sending pandemic stimulus checks to illegal immigrants.

• Giving illegal immigrants the right to vote.

• Funding to sanctuary cities.

• A pathway to citizenship for gang members. 

• The Biden Administration’s move to end Title 42, which gives border patrol the ability to turn away illegal immigrants.

Demings Opposes:

• The border wall, calling it “an absurd waste of money.”

• Providing border agents with much-needed resources to do their jobs.

• President Trump’s declaration of a national emergency at the border, calling the border crisis “nothing new” and a “seasonal thing.”

• Informing ICE when an illegal immigrant attempts to purchase a gun.

Their reporting also found that “The gated community that Demings — who is opposed to voter identification laws and cosponsored the Democrats’ voting overhaul bill — lives in requires visitors to show their ID to enter.”

RESOURCES

Axios: U.S. sets record with more than 2 million encounters at Mexico border

Team Marco Video: Val Demings is Lying About the Border Crisis

– SENATE RACE TOPLINES – 

DEMINGS TOPLINE 

• Val Demings votes with Pelosi and for Biden’s agenda 100% of the time and with the Socialist Squad 94% of the time.

• She went to Washington and abandoned her brothers and sisters in blue, embracing the Left’s vilification of those who protect Florida communities – calling defunding the police “thoughtful” and violent riots a “beautiful site” while auditioning to be Biden’s VP.

• Demings hasn’t passed any meaningful legislation in her six years in the House. 

• Demings has supported every piece of Biden’s disastrous agenda that has resulted in skyrocketing inflation, a historic crisis at the border, and rising crime.

RUBIO TOPLINE

• Marco Rubio is a principled, effective senator who gets things done for Florida. 

• Marco has had more bills signed into law under a Democrat president and Congress than Demings has in her six years in Washington. 

• Marco understands the challenges working families are facing today because his family has faced them, too. 

• Marco believes that now more than ever we need to fight to preserve our American values, and he will continue his work to protect our individual liberties.

Rubio Accomplishments

• Created the Paycheck Protection Program at the beginning of the pandemic, saving over half a million Florida small businesses and six million Florida jobs. 

• Doubled the Child Tax Credit for working families, which was proven to benefit lower income communities in particular. 

• Created accountability at the Department of Veterans Affairs and made it possible for veterans exposed to toxic burn pits to get the care they need. 

• Made important headway on Everglades restoration efforts, driving historic levels of federal funding to improve water quality and manage invasive species, leading the New York Times to call him “the national park’s most vigorous champion in the Senate”.

• Expanded treatment options for children battling cancer.

• Successfully protected Florida’s low income housing tenants from slumlords.

Nicole M. Presti