Less than 24 hours after Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (D) openly challenged Republican congressional candidate and Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez to debate, Miami Democrats released a statement accusing him of hiding from voters because he has yet to “accept” the three debates Rep. Mucarsel-Powell has already agreed to attend.
“I am so ready to debate Carlos Gimenez,” said Rep. Mucarsel-Powell over the weekend on Local 10 news. I have accepted three other debates and he has refused to answer. Let’s bring it on Carlos, I’m ready.”
“Carlos Gimenez is hiding from the voters because he knows he can't defend his record of corruption and widespread disease. Carlos Gimenez refuses to face the voters and explain himself. Just as bad, despite running for Congress in a community in which a majority of voters speak Spanish, Gimenez won't even agree to a single debate in Spanish,” said Miami-Dade Democratic Party Chair Steve Simeonidis. “Where are you, Carlos? Why won’t you debate?”
Refusing to accept a debate must be a strategy of sorts, considering that Gimenez has never shied away from a debate before.
The congressional race is considered a “toss-up” district, so one would think that both candidates would be attacking one another like to rabid animals, right?
Wrong.
Mucarsel-Powell has been pelting Gimenez with several attack ads, the latest accusing him of taking a 67% pay raise and is using every media opportunity to take a swipe at her Republican opponent, as she did on Local 10's "This Week in South Florida" Sunday morning show
Gimenez on the other hand has been very cautious in attacking ‘DMP.”
The latest dig Gimenez has made against the freshman congresswoman was accusing her of playing in “petty politics” after she herself accused him of using tactics of “authoritarian” regimes because he decided to designate the Frost Museum and not the AA arena as an early voting location.
Miami Herald reporter Doug Hanks called Mucarsel-Powell’s claim against Gimenez baseless, saying that she “offered no evidence” to her accusation.
Last month, she compared American police officers to Maduro thugs. Now, standing 3 blocks from an early voting site that has free transportation access, @RepDMP continues to play petty politics. Authoritarian regimes do not have fair elections, much less early voting sites. #FL26 https://t.co/Uu6i4b9J1o
— Carlos A. Gimenez (@CarlosGimenezFL) September 5, 2020
This race is expected to be decided again by less than 3 percentage points, but Mucarsel-Powell's unwavering support to impeach Trump, her refusal to denounce the ongoing violent riots, and her congressional voting record that includes her support for defunding police when she voted for the Justice for Policing Act, could be more than enough for voters to take pause and vote for the less controversial Gimenez.
As far as Gimenez, well, he will have to have to answer the allegations made against him that accuse him of cronyism and corruption.
