Val Demings is just what lazy, anti-abortion Marco Rubio deserves: a fearless challenger | Opinion

He’s running a lazy campaign.

She’s fearless and hard-working.

And — if Florida women angry at the erosion of abortion rights Roe v. Wade gave us vote like their lives depend on this midterm election — he’ll be sweating every last vote.

Perhaps, for the first time, in his maverick political career.

Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, master of the gift of gab, is so sure that Florida voters will re-elect him over a Democratic Black woman that he hasn’t taken his challenger, U.S. Rep. Val Demings, as seriously as he should.

His confidence stems from the now time and election-tested religious and conservative North-South alliance that makes nationalist whites and Cuban-American Republicans like Rubio political bedfellows.

No such strong coalition exists among Democrats, who are estranged in their strongholds in Central and South Florida and in pockets of red Florida. Barack Obama’s “rainbow” in Florida was as fleeting as the real spectacle in the sky.

But if this U.S. Senate race has heft and gravitas it is because Demings, 65, a former Orlando police chief with chops and courage, has managed to bridge some of the distances between Democrats.

At Tuesday night’s debate in Lake Worth and broadcast on NBC, she came out swinging first.

“The senator, who has not run anything at all, but his mouth,” Demings called Rubio.

He, in turn, dished cockiness.

Asked if he would accept the 2022 election results, Rubio said: “Sure, because I’m going to win.”

Working for the Cuban vote

Unlike others running in statewide races who shy away from controversial Miami, Demings wasn’t afraid to plunge right in and, first, visit “to learn” as soon as she launched her campaign, and then visit again to engage with voters.

Oh yes, she did go for the touristy Cuban tour usually reserved for Republicans.

She played a game of dominoes — with gusto — in Little Havana and she hung out at a house party. Her trips south won her fans — and energized Cuban-American Democrats, who so often feel undervalued and sidelined.

Demings understood the Cuba freedom issue right away, voicing unequivocal, strong support for protesters on the island, and calling for Congress to pass a resolution supporting the Cuban people.

Yes. Cuban lives matter to her — and she had no qualms about taking a public stand to show the breadth of her commitment to both shores.

“The people of Cuba must know that the U.S. government stands with them against the failed and oppressive communist and socialist regime,” she said. “. . . And I call on U.S. officials to continue engaging with Florida’s Cuban community as we proceed with tangible steps to fight for the Cuban people’s safety, liberty and ability to freely choose their own futures. Patria y Vida.”

Lazy Rubio, China on his mind

Meanwhile, Rubio, 51, hasn’t devoted any effort to working on weighty issues affecting all of the state — and most stridently, his neck of the woods, South Florida.

Not a campaign ad, or a flier. No urgency. No outrage. Nada.

He’s got easy-target China on his mind.

Why?

Because the regular extreme-climate flooding of our neighborhoods and the lack of housing and home insurance affordability are, simply, not his thing.

When pressed for answers, his views are, at best, antiquated. Same old Republican talking points about the small-government theory the GOP abandoned a long time ago in favor of private-life voyeurism and the usurpation of women’s rights.

On the abortion issue, Rubio is nothing but a radical extremist of the worst kind. No exemptions for incest, rape or anything else, he has said.

If sicko daddy impregnates you, have his baby.

He’s dangerous.

In fact, Rubio is so disconnected from constituents that he recently signed on to co-sponsor a bill that would take away from the elderly the lower cost for medications the Biden administration passed through Congress.

Imagine that when Florida has the second-largest 65-and-over population in the nation.

What does Rubio care about?

Riding Gov. Ron DeSantis’ coattails.

From incendiary ads on television that have been proven factually inaccurate to campaign fliers, Rubio is piggybacking on DeSantis’ culture wars, casting homophobia and racism in school curriculum as “parental rights.”

He’s happy putting forth minimum effort like making an appearance with old guard Cuban Americans who are going to vote for him anyway and boast of their blanket endorsement.

“Today I was proud to receive the support of virtually every Cuban-exile organization in #Florida,” he crowed on Twitter.

Duh.

But he should see what other Cuban Americans, including independents and Republicans with a conscience, say to me when I write about him.

They can’t stand the sight of him, their loathing dating back to when he abandoned immigration reform to chase the white-nationalist vote. And, post his presidential bid, it has only grown as he ingratiated himself with the president he called a “con man,” and supported him as the narcissistic maniac, for the first time in this country’s history, tried to derail democracy and stage a coup.

Lots of Cuban Americans have, if they had any, lost faith in Rubio — and, if that Obama coalition wakes up around the state, there’s a sliver of a chance for Demings to defeat him.

In a way, she’s already won. She’s making him sweat a little.