Scott Powers
Democratic Rep. Val Demings’ U.S. Senate campaign is launching a statewide TV commercial pushing her law enforcement background and seeking to defuse attempts to tie her to the 2020 “defund the police” messages pushed by some liberal Democrats.
“In the Senate, I’ll protect Florida from bad ideas,” Demings says in the new 30-second TV spot. “Defunding the police: That’s just crazy.”
Demings’ 27 years as an Orlando police officer, culminating as the department’s first woman Police Chief, and her support for police have comprised a cornerstone of her Senate campaign, which often refers to her as “Chief Demings” instead of “Rep. Demings.”
Her campaign also suggests in a news release she’s trying to distance herself from a broader category of “bad Washington ideas” such as defunding the police.
Nonetheless, Demings has received vigorous attack from Republicans trying to tie her to the anti-police messaging of the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests. And her General Election opponent, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, has been cleaning up with endorsements from Florida law enforcement groups.
Countering that early, Demings’ campaign says it is spending at least $10 million to air the new ad, “Protect and Serve.” It will be playing both in English and Spanish, statewide.
Rubio’s campaign charged that Demings’ first TV ad of the campaign “doesn’t name a single accomplishment in Congress — because she has none.”
“She flip-flopped on Defunding the Police: just a couple of years ago she called the movement, ‘very thoughtful,'” said a statement from Elizabeth Gregory, the Rubio campaign’s communications director said. Gregory cited a June, 2020, interview Demings gave in which she specifically referenced the Minneapolis’ City Council’s interest to sit down “with law enforcement authorities and other community leaders.”
“Today she says it’s crazy,” the Rubio campaign statement observed.
The large TV buy is unusual this early, confirming this is going to be a long, high-stakes battle.
It begins by regaling her time as Orlando Chief of Police, from 2007-11. As a confident Rep. Demings strides across the screen, the backdrop shows video clips of her as Police Chief. Her voice also plays across that of various background voices, including that of Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, commenting on her tenure in Orlando.
“Chief Val Demings,” says one as an introduction.
“An impressive history of public service,” says another.
“Protect and serve Florida. That’s what I’ve done, as a police officer and as Chief,” Demings says.
“Under her leadership, crime is down, 40%,” says a background voice.
“Dramatic decrease in violent crime,” Dyer says.
Demings finishes with the slogan, “Florida, it’s time to send a cop on the beat to the Senate.”
15 comments
Impeach Biden
June 13, 2022 at 1:06 pm
Val, you and your party own this defund movement. Just like you and your party own high fuel prices, record inflation, border chaos and on and on. November can’t come soon enough.
Ocean Joe
June 13, 2022 at 2:02 pm
It’s taking us Dems a long time to catch up to the GOP’s Great Depression and the Great Recession, but with your help (2017 tax cut and an ignoramus in charge when covid hit) we’ll get there.
Hey, how bout those hearings, IB? Not really hearings, just a rehash of the first president in US history to refuse to honor the results of a fair election, to be impeached twice, and to gin up a mob of goons to do his dirty work.
Impeach Biden
June 13, 2022 at 3:44 pm
Yet another tired and used many times Democrat tactic. Blame the previous Republican administration for all of your woes. I took a picture of fuel prices the day the “incompetent one” was sworn in. $2.17 per gallon. First thing Biden did was sign the executive order to shutdown Keystone. Look now at fuel prices. Another one of his first day gaffs. Stop construction of the border wall. Record numbers of illegals have crossed since then. Finally, there was no Russian buildup along the Ukraine border until Biden took office. Why is that? To me it’s obvious that Putin views Biden as weak, like most of us in the United States and worldwide. That was a one year build up that lead to war. I’m betting Kamala Harris couldn’t find Ukraine on a map. These are things that Deming’s will have to defend as a Democrat. It’s goi;g to be interesting to see how many Democrats will have “Dumb and Dumber” campaign for them.
Clear Miss
June 13, 2022 at 4:40 pm
Val Demings had many chances to say “just crazy” back in the day when BLM and other anti-social radicals were damning the police, and she failed, and failed and failed again, all in a vain attempt to curry favor with Joe Biden. She is just another overly ambitious and slippery pol, hiding behind the skirts of social prejudice, trying to improve her condition at the expense of America.
tom palmer
June 13, 2022 at 5:12 pm
The Defund The Police effort was never a serious policy platform among elected officials. It was a slogan ;chanted by a handful of loudmouths and picked up by the media because it sounded dramatic and made a good sound byte. The GOP has made good use of it to mislead the public, nevertheless.
Ron Ogden
June 14, 2022 at 8:23 am
“. . .a handful of loudmouths. . .”
The new nickname of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. You can disavow them now that your fat is in the fire, but we all know where your true feelings are. We saw it in Seattle and Portland and a dozen other places in America, and we still see it today, regardless of all the “buyer’s remorse” you Demis have in 2022. Why don’t you be proactive and encourage your leaders to have a little meeting with BLM and AntiFa and Open Society and MSNBC and the rest of them on November 9? If you’d like I’ll make up the agenda for you. It will start with a “Pledge of Allegiance.”
tom palmer
June 14, 2022 at 1:11 pm
It was a lot of hot air. Nothing got defunded. It did result in some changes in some of the bully boy tactics some police officers in some jurisdictions were getting away with. It was also a handy GOP fundraising issue that some of these dopes enabled.
Nancy
June 13, 2022 at 5:13 pm
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Impeach Biden
June 13, 2022 at 6:34 pm
Oh AOC, Bush, Talib, Jayapal, Omar, and others would disagree with your comment that it was just a few loudmouths. You and your party own it. Now suffer the consequences.
tom palmer
June 14, 2022 at 1:16 pm
The GOP owns the Jan. 6 sedition, including actual physical assaults on police officers, so there you are.
Samas Above
June 14, 2022 at 3:14 pm
And the Democrats own the murder of an unarmed citizen protestor who posed no serious threat to anyone–except a bunch of yellow-drawered lawmakers scurrying around like a tribe of mice when the kitties suddenly show up. Give those Democrats red coats and muskets and set them on Boston Common in March 1770. The consequences likely will be the same. And, yep, Lord North called it “sedition”, too.
marylou
June 14, 2022 at 9:42 pm
The unarmed woman was killed by the police. “Defund the Police” was intended to, among other things, help end the epidemic of police killing unarmed people. It was a poorly chosen, misleading name.
tom palmer
June 14, 2022 at 10:21 pm
on’t bust into the ;Capitol and you will not get shot. If the Capitol Police had disabled a few more of these traitors by shooting them in the feet or legs to get their attention, this revolt would have been short-lived.
linda
June 16, 2022 at 11:38 am
Noticed that Demmings doesn’t mention she’s a democrat!!! Watch and listen to all the dems commercials, no mention that they’re democrats!!! Gee, I wonder why, maybe you’d associated them with liars, cheats and generally stupid.
Kevin Flankey
June 16, 2022 at 6:36 pm
The commercial had horrible production quality! She looks like a hologram. The music makes no sense, either.
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