Rubio ad hits Demings as Florida Senate race heats up

In another sign that the battle between Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Val Demings may be the marquee Florida matchup of 2022, Rubio's campaign is launching its first ad aimed directly at his challenger.

Rubio’s campaign — which is getting some help from the National Republican Senatorial Committee — has put together an ad designed to counter Demings' multimillion-dollar ad sweep featuring the former Orlando police chief stressing her law-enforcement credentials and saying she will oppose “defunding the police.” Last week, the campaign also rotated in a new ad that criticized Rubio’s attendance record in the U.S. Senate.

The new Rubio ad shared with Playbook features several sheriffs ripping into Demings for voting in line with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and says “maybe she used to be a cop, but in Washington, Val Demings is just another radical rubberstamp.”

So far the Rubio ad buy doesn’t come close to matching the nearly $6 million already spent by Demings' camp. Ad tracking firm AdImpact says the Rubio campaign and the NRSC are initially spending close to $300,000 in the West Palm Beach, Jacksonville and Tampa Bay markets. But now that Rubio has gone up on the air, he may stay there for the duration of the campaign.