The Demings campaign came under scrutiny earlier this month after the Florida Democrat’s paid security tackled a man to the ground. Florida Senator Marco Rubio’s (R) campaign press secretary posted a video of the encounter on social media, and it quickly drew criticism from GOP members. In response to the video, Senator Rubio has taken to social media, criticizing the media and Demings for lack of coverage.
On Twitter, Senator Rubio commented on footage of the encounter, saying that “every media outlet in America would have covered this if I had bodyguards like Pelosi puppet Val Demings does and they assaulted someone for trying to film me.”
As the tracker explained to the police, the tracker attempted to ask Demings a question because they were in a parking lot of a public park.
In a statement, Christian Slater, a spokesperson for the Demings campaign, commented that “security officials take potential threats and threatening behavior toward the chief seriously. In this instance, the individual did not respond to multiple requests to leave and aggressively charged at security personnel in pursuit of Chief Demings’ approaching vehicle.”
Florida Rep. Val Demings (D), who was hosting a voting rally the day of the incident, has not released a comment.
A new poll conducted by the University of North Florida's Public Opinion Research Lab, indicates that Demings is 4 points ahead of Rubio in terms of support. Demings is currently polling with 48% of support compared to Rubio's 44%, and 7% of those polled said that they would not support either and would instead vote for another candidate.
In response to the altercation, Priscilla Ivasco, a National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesperson, commented that Demings' "security detail assaulted a man, and she defended them," adding, “I guess her law and order message only applies when she’s lying to Floridians in TV ads.”
