LAKELAND, Fla.—Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.) easily brushed aside three party rivals in her Aug. 23 Democratic primary and has raised more than $47 million in her campaign to unseat Florida’s two-term Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).
The three-term congressional representative and former Orlando Police Chief has a $10 million fundraising advantage over Rubio and, with poll numbers that show an ever-tightening race, including one where she is actually leading, some analysts have Demings tabbed as a November upset pick.
To add injury to incumbent insult, the day after she cruised to her easy primary win, Demings joined four other Democratic U.S. Senate candidates running for seats now held by Republicans in forming a joint “Flippable Five Fund.”
Other “Flippable Five Fund” recipients:
- Former state Supreme Court Justice Cheri Beasley in her race against Republican state Rep. Ted Budd to succeed retiring Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) in North Carolina;
- Wisconsin Democrat Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes in his bid to unseat incumbent Republican Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.);
- Pennsylvania Democrat Lt. Gov. John Fetterman in his campaign against Republican TV doctor Mehmet Oz to replace retiring Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.);
- Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan’s (D-Ohio) election against Republican J.D. Vance to succeed the retiring Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio).
Demings’s fundraising prowess, an Aug. 8–12 University of North Florida (UNF) survey of 1,534 likely voters that had her up 48 to 44 percent, and the sheer gall of Democrats placing his seat among the “flippable five,” has Rubio raising alarm and, hopefully, money.
