Val Demings to Boricuas: ‘We Can Do Better Than Marco Rubio’

As she prepares to face off against the Republican senator in November, the Congress member launches Todos Con Demings, the campaign’s bilingual Latino outreach effort.

US Rep. Val Demings (D-10) is looking to Florida Hispanics as she faces off against Sen. Marco Rubio in November. And the former Orlando Police Chief is going all out.

Demings, who has been called “a powerhouse like Democrats haven’t had run for Senate in decades,” is reaching out to Boricuas across the state. So, before an energized crowd, and joined by local elected officials, the candidate for the US Senate launched Todos Con Demings, the campaign’s bilingual Latino outreach effort.

An American Dream for All

“I stand before you today as an American Dream realized,” Demings said at a rally in Orlando following the Puerto Rican Day Parade, where she announced Todos Con Demings.

The daughter of a maid and a janitor who doubled as a landscaper and fruit picker, Demings grew up in a small wood-framed house in Jacksonville with six siblings. She attended segregated schools in the 1960s, graduating from Wolfson High School in the 1970s, and at 14 she took a job as a dishwasher.

Working in a fast-food restaurant to pay her way, she became the first in her family to go to college. Later, she became a social worker and then a police officer, becoming the first woman police chief in Orlando, where she drove down violent crime by 40%. In 2015, she won the race for representative in Congress with 65% of the vote.

On a Mission

So, for Demings, talking about the American dream is not mere political jargon; she is a living example of the power of hard work coupled with opportunity.

“I am on a mission to make sure that every man, every woman, every boy, every girl — regardless of who they are, the color of their skin, where they live, how much money they have in the bank, their sexual orientation — will have the opportunity to succeed,” she told the crowd, as she touched on issues including affordability, economic opportunity, Temporary Protected Status, and immigration reform. See her full speech HERE.

‘We Can Do Better’

“We don’t have to accept the current senator in Washington who doesn’t like to come to work, who has one of the worst attendance records of any senator currently in the Senate,” Demings said of Rubio. “We can do better than that, and we’re going to do better than that.”

Demings also took the opportunity to strongly denounce socialism and authoritarianism in Latin America. But this was not the first time she called out dictatorial regimes and how they affect not only their citizen’s freedoms, but the United States as well.

“We cannot continue to allow the Chinese Communist Party to use forced labor and human rights violations to dominate the solar industry,” Demings said. “We should not have to choose between clean power and human rights. These parts should be made by American workers right here in Florida.”

An effective legislator, her Solar Bill, a large-scale effort to strengthen America’s economy, security, and global leadership, passed the US House in February.