This week, Florida Rep. Val Demings (D) released a new advertisement titled "Marco Rubio is Running From Florida." In response to the “attack ad,” the Rubio campaign commented that the advertisement “lies and smears Marco’s record.” However, the Senatorial hopeful takes aim at a “scared” Rubio, accusing him of wanting to raise taxes and following the orders of “party bosses” like Florida Senator Rick Scott (R).
In the advertisement, the Demings campaign links Senator Rubio to Senator Scott’s 11-point plan, which he released in early February.
The plan calls for all Americans paying “some income tax,” and the Demings campaign agrees that this increase will be paid by “largely the poor and retirees.”
Demings’ advertisement goes on to call the plan the “Rubio-Scott Tax Hike,” but the Rubio campaign is dismissing the advertisement, accusing Demings of “spending big money to push this ad purely to distort the truth.”
Since announcing her senatorial bid, Demings has signaled that Florida can do better than reelecting Rubio, and the Rubio campaign has pushed back by calling her a “Pelosi Puppet” and hypocritical.
Now Demings is accusing Rubio of being “scared to stand up to his bosses” while adding that the GOP member “doesn’t have the courage” to have an effective impact on Florida.
As well, Demings accuses Rubio of not saying that “Florida Comes First.”
Christian Slater, Demings’ communications director, further commented on the advertisement, saying that “Marco Rubio’s party boss is planning to hike
taxes on Florida’s working families, seniors and veterans with the Rubio-Tax Hike, and Rubio is too cowardly to reject the politicians and special interests that tell him what to do.”
The advertisement concludes with Demings’ campaign urging voters in November to “tell Rubio to take a hike.”
Rubio’s campaign maintains that the advertisement is fiction, saying that Demings “has launched an attack ad that likes and smears Marco’s record.”
