When former President Donald Trump was being impeached by House Democrats (both times) Rep. Valdez “Val” Demings (D) was front-and-center in the process and pressed for a swift impeachment vote from her position on the House Judiciary Committee, and Republicans were paying attention.
Rep. Demings was very friendly to the press and could be seen at a given moment speaking to reporters in and around the House Chamber before and after legislative votes were taken. Demings answered every question deliberately and took as much time as she could to entertain all the questions asked of her.
But Demings’ availability to the media came to a screeching end the moment she announced her senatorial campaign against Senator Marco Rubio (R) and has been seen avoiding reporters as she whisks by them outside the House Chamber. Just this past week, three separate reporters from the Washington Post, New York Times, and McClatchy were talking amongst themselves and joking about how Demings is being kept from talking to the media, moments after she walked past them after getting out of the elevator near the Speaker's Lobby.
Demings' media appearance have been few and far between, but this past weekend, Demings made a rare public appearance at a sparsely attended Democratic Club of North Florida breakfast event alongside Democratic gubernatorial candidates Rep. Charlie Crist and AG Commissioner Nikki Fried, where she gave one of her vintage and powerful addresses.
National Republicans, namely the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) was quick to criticize Demings’ speech and honed in on what she said about past performances.
“The best indicator of future performance is to look at past performance.” ….. “When someone shows up and tells you ‘I'm going to do this, and I'm going to do that,’ look at what they've done.”-Rep. Val Demings
The NRSC listed “Demings’ past performances” they appear to take issue with since first elected in 2-17. Some of those votes or “past performances” Republicans took issue with was her support to protect sanctuary cities, supporting voting rights for illegal aliens, and her ‘Yes’ vote supporting “For the People Act,” a measure that could federalize elections and “overturn voter ID laws.”
- Demings only has two bills that she sponsored signed into law. The two bills signed into law named post offices.
- After being recruited to run for Congress by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Demings voted to make Pelosi Speaker three times (2017, 2019, 2021), and previously voted with her 97% of the time.
- Demings has voted with Pelosi 100% of the time in the current Congress.
- In the 117th Congress, Demings voted with “The Squad” (socialists AOC, Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar) 96% of the time and in the 116th Congress, voted with them 94% of time.
- Demings voted to protect sanctuary cities, previously voting against a measure to require them to comply with federal immigration laws.
- In 2019, Demings voted against a measure to condemn voting in U.S. elections by illegal immigrants.
- In 2021, Demings voted for H.R. 1, the For the People Act. The bill would overturn voter ID laws and publicly fund campaigns.
“For a candidate looking for a promotion, Congresswoman Val Demings has very little to show for her time in D.C. Whether it’s voting with Speaker Pelosi 100% of the time or with the Socialist ‘Squad’, Demings has sided with the radical Left-wing of her party at every turn. If our best indicator on what she will be like as a Senator is her past performance, then we know she won’t be fighting for Floridians’ best interests. Instead, she will just be caving to the demands of Chuck Schumer, Washington Democrats, and the Radical Left,” stated Priscilla Ivasco, NRSC spokeswoman.
Senator Rubio and National Republicans are poised to make this race about voting records, and if they are successful in doing so, Demings will have to answer for her votes, votes that have supported the perceived radical Progressive agenda put forth by the House “Squad,” or the “Jihad Squad,” as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and other House Republicans call the group.
