Fiery Demings-Rubio debate in Florida
We ran the numbers: There are 2,656 news articles covering this topic.
41% (1,101) are left-leaning, 37% (982) are centrist, and 22% (573) are right-leaning.
On Oct. 18, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) faced off against U.S. Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.) in the first one-on-one debate of their contentious race for Senate just weeks before the midterm elections on Nov. 8. Topics discussed at the Lake Worth debate included the economy, abortion rights, gun violence, and immigration with many news outlets describing the debate as “fiery” and Demings as being on the offensive. Left-leaning articles focus on how Rubio backtracked on guns while right-leaning articles note that crime was not discussed and that Rubio blamed inflation on government spending during the pandemic.
The Hill published a centrist article summarizing the key points and takeaways from the Rubio-Demmings debate last Tuesday. The article highlights that Demings went on the aggressive, painting Rubio as a “career politician” and “reliable ‘yes’ vote for the GOP in Washington.” The Hill reported that a theme throughout the night was Demings’s efforts to cast doubt on Rubio’s 12-year tenure as Senator, as well as Rubio’s unsurprising tactic of tying his Democratic opponent to socialism. All in all, The Hill reports that the debate is unlikely to tip the balance of the race in Demings’ favor, who polls show is tailing Rubio by 4 to 5%.
A left-leaning article from The Washington Post highlights that Rubio has backtracked on a measure he previously campaigned for which would ban 18-year-olds from buying assault rifles in response to the school shooting in Parkland, Fla. At the Tuesday debate, Rubio said that the law which he previously supported “doesn’t work” and that background checks would not have prevented any of the school shootings discussed. The Post reported that Demings fired back, accusing Rubio of making “promises that you had no intentions to keep” to the families of the victims of the Parkland shooting.
A right-leaning article from Fox News notes that absent from the debate was the discussion of crime, which was described as a hot button issue for GOP voters during this midterm election. The description of the debate was presented as a dialogue of alternating quotes on a variety of issues, such as immigration, abortion rights, and the economy. On the topic of inflation, Fox News highlighted that Rubio attributed the blame for inflation on government spending during the pandemic.
From the right
Marco Rubio and Val Demings take aim at one another on immigration, gun control
Fox News