Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Val Demings clashed in a lively debate for Florida U.S. Senate. NBC 6’s Steve Litz and Jackie Nespral report
Republican Sen. Marco Rubio and Democratic Rep. Val Demings clashed on everything from abortion to gun control and more in their only Florida U.S. Senate debate Tuesday night.
The "Before You Vote" debate was held at Palm Beach State College’s Lake Worth campus and was moderated by WPBF 25 anchor Todd McDermott.
Watch the full debate below.
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The debate became heated almost from the beginning, with the incumbent Rubio and the challenger Demings trading jabs when asked about what they'd do to help families with inflation.
"Of course the senator who has never run anything at all but his mouth would know nothing about helping people and being there for people when they are in trouble," Demings said.
"We passed the Paycheck Protection Plan when Democrats were sitting at home in the house, they were in their pajamas doing zoom calls," Rubio said. "The congresswoman likes to talk about helping people, she's never passed a bill, she's never passed a single bill, she's been in Congress for over half a decade, she's never passed a bill."
"I'm really disappointed in you Marco Rubio because I think there was a time when you did not lie in order to win, I don't know what happened to you," Demings later responded.
"There is not a single federal law on the books that she sponsored and got passed, not one. I think she named two post offices, and I've done that too," Rubio said.
The attacks continued when both were asked about abortion.
Rubio said he was pro-life but has supported abortion bills with exceptions.
"Every bill I've ever sponsored on abortion, every bill I've ever voted for has exceptions, every one of them does because that's what can pass and that's what the majority of people support," he said. "The extremist on abortion in this campaign is Congresswoman Demings. She supports no restrictions, no limitations of any kind. She supports taxpayer-funded abortion on demand for any reason at any time up until the moment of birth, that's what she supports."
Demings said she supports the right to choose up to point of viability, and said Rubio supports no exceptions including rape and incest.
"To stand over there and say that I support abortions up to the time of birth is just a lie," Demings said. "He can make his mouth say anything today, he's good at that by the way. What day is it and what is Marco Rubio saying?"
Rubio asked Demings to clarify what viability meant to her.
"That's the vague line that they all give," Rubio said.
"I think those decisions are made between the woman, her family, her doctor and her faith," Demings said. "We are not going back senator, no matter how obsessed you are with a woman's body and her right to choose we are not going back to a time where women are treated like second-class citizens or property."
When asked about supporting a ban on the sale of AR-15 style rifles to people under 21, Demings went after Rubio for his position on gun control.
"You've done nothing, nothing to help address gun violence and get dangerous weapons out of the hands of dangerous people," Demings said.
Rubio said it was more important to identify the would-be perpetrators of mass shootings and stop them before they act.
"The fundamental issue is why are these kids, why are these people going out there and massacring people cause a lot of people own AR-15s and they don't kill anyone," Rubio said.
Demings is a former Orlando police chief and currently holds a congressional seat in central Florida. She cruised to victory in the Democratic primary in August.
Rubio was first elected in 2010 and is the state's senior U.S. Senator. He won reelection in 2016 over Democrat Patrick Murphy by nearly 8 percentage points.
