TAMARAC, Fla. – Florida’s top Democratic candidates were in South Florida to help kick off the party’s push to beat out the Republicans they running to replace, Governor Ron DeSantis and Senator Marco Rubio.
Fresh off a big primary win, Val Demings returned to Broward County on Thursday night.
She shifted her campaign speech to cater to a crowd of military veterans.
“We need to make sure that our VA hospitals all over this nation are able to protect you, take care of you, and you shouldn’t have to wait six months, eight months, a year to be able to see a specialist,” she said.
The Democratic congresswoman is on the November ballot trying to unseat Rubio, and recent polls show a tightening race.
In fact, Demings is out-raising Rubio.
The most recent dunning cycle shows Rubio took in $36 million dollars compared while Demings raised $48 million.
It’s something Rubio has acknowledged in recent speeches and television interviews.
“I need people to help, but she’s raising all this money from ultra-liberals who want to ruin Florida by the way,” Rubio said during a recent interview.
The other big ticket to watch in Florida is the governor’s race, where Charlie Crist is campaigning to win his old job back.
Time will tell if his efforts will be enough to head off the support from Republicans for Ron DeSantis.
Crist also spent his Thursday night campaigning in Tamarac at a Unity for Democrats event.
Alongside his one-time Democratic challenger Nikki Fried, she has since thrown her support toward Crist.
“We have our task ahead of us,” he said. “We know what the mission is. The mission is victory. Nothing short of victory. Failure is not an option.”