Florida Dem copies Obama’s “never let a crisis go to waste” mantra in the race against Marco Rubio. Florida Democratic Senate nominee Val Demings is using what she calls “one of the costliest hurricanes in U.S. history” to solicit campaign contributions.
Demings released a campaign video highlighting Hurricane Ian’s “staggering scale of wreckage.” “Death toll in Florida soars after Hurricane Ian demolished entire communities,” one caption in the video reads. “Ian may be one of the costliest hurricanes in U.S. history,” another says.
Hurricane Ian’s “wreckage” did not stop Demings from attaching a fundraising link to the video. The link directs viewers to an ActBlue page that asks for “a generous grassroots donation right now to help my people-powered movement flip Florida blue and expand Democrats’ Senate majority.”
After releasing the video Demings’ campaign manager Zack Carroll sent supporters emails and texts lamenting the “unimaginable destruction, loss, and grief” seen in Florida. That destruction, Carroll wrote, “meant fundraising took a backseat. Our whole campaign was put on hold last week.”
According to Carroll, the hurricane-induced pause “cost us big time.” As a result of this pause, “Val Demings is way short on fundraising.” “To catch up,” the email continued, “we’re calling on this grassroots movement to do something that’s never been done: Raise $500,000 by midnight.”
Demings obviously is hoping the hurricane will give her an opportunity to turn her political fortunes around. This is after three consecutive polls showed her trailing Rubio by 4, 7, and 6 points. But the move could, and should, backfire as Demings and other Florida Democrats use the storm to boost their campaign coffers.
Demings isn’t the only democrat using Ian in a disgusting attempt to gain money for themselves. Democratic gubernatorial nominee Charlie Crist has asked those who “suffered damage from Hurricane Ian” to “share their story” through his campaign site. But instead of being able to share their situation with those who could help users who filled out the form were redirected to a fundraising page. The page asked victims to “take the next step and make a quick donation.” Crist quietly changed the form’s redirect link after Republican governor Ron DeSantis’s campaign blasted the Democratic nominee online.
Money isn’t the only thing Demings has used the hurricane to tout. She is also pushing the Democrats’ so-called Inflation Reduction Act. During a Sept. 29 MSNBC interview, Demings said the legislation would help Florida’s hurricane “resiliency” because the bill “will address climate change.” Just one day before the interview, National Hurricane Center acting director Jamie Rhome cautioned against linking Hurricane Ian to climate change. Rhome spoke out after CNN host Don Lemon asked him to “tell us what this is and what effect climate change has on this phenomena.”
“We can come back and talk about climate change at a later time. I want to focus on the here and now,” Rhome responded. “I don’t think you can link climate change to any one event. On the whole, on the cumulative, climate change may be making storms worse. But to link it to any one event, I would caution against that.”
Of course, Lemon quickly inserted his own superiority by suggesting that he may know better than the hurricane expert because he “grew up” in Florida.
