Marco Rubio, Val Demings bring the heat in their only Senate debate

The two major party candidates in one of the most high-profile Senate races of the year litigated hot button issues for an hour in Lake Worth in their only scheduled debate.

After months of back and forth through ads and interviews, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and his Democratic challenger, U.S. Rep. Val Demings, finally were able to make their arguments in person, and they made the most of the opportunities from opening bell to close.

One such point of contention: the current affordability crisis. Asked to respond to increasing inflation, Rubio said “the first thing we have to do is stop spending that kind of money,” speaking of pandemic relief packages.

“They were warned. The Democrats were warned … if you do this, you’ll fire up inflation,” Rubio said, before tagging Demings as a supporter “of some of these crazy policies that are coming from the Left” such as a tax increase on crude oil.

On stopping inflation? “I think it begins by winning this election and getting people like that out of office,” Rubio added, gesturing to Demings in the first heated moment of the debate.