Val Demings: Marco Rubio ‘Is Afraid’ to Talk to People Who Look Like Me

Representative Val Demings (D-FL) said Tuesday on ABC’s “The View” that Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), her opponent in the 2022 U.S. Senate race, was “afraid” to talk to black people.

Demings said, “Let me say this, Marco Rubio doesn’t show up. When he does, he does not have the courage to fight for Floridians, fight for the people that he is supposed to represent. I believe that government plays a critical role in the daily lives of people, but certainly when they are going through crisis. What we went through the last year was painful with COVID-19. No one planned it. Our response to it was everything. Marco Rubio voted against getting financial assistance to people who desperately needed it, to our small businesses struggling to keep doors open. He voted against financial assistance to get schools back open. He voted against local and state government, which means he voted against people on the frontlines, our teachers, our health care workers. Marco Rubio doesn’t have the courage to stand up for the people he represents. When things get a little shaky for him, he’s like the wind. Any way the wind blows it is cool with him. He’s afraid of a tough fight. I’m not. I believe Florida can do better.”

She continued, “This Black girl who grew up poor and female in the South really does believe that the people that we represent should have the same opportunities or even better than the opportunities that I’ve had. We are going to build the most unique coalition in Florida from the Panhandle down to the Keys, from Tallahassee down to Miami. I’m going to do something that Rubio is afraid to do. I’m going to talk to people who look like me and people who don’t look like me about the things that they care about.”

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