Val Demings launches Florida Senate campaign to challenge Marco Rubio

Washington — Democratic Congresswoman Val Demings formally launched her Senate campaign to challenge Republican Senator Marco Rubio in Florida on Wednesday, after months of speculation about her plans. Rubio is up for reelection next year.

The Florida Democrat announced her campaign in a three-minute video released on Wednesday morning, describing her upbringing as the inspiration for her "tireless faith of that things will get better," and highlighting her experience as the first female chief of police for the Orlando Police Department. "When you grow up in the South poor, Black and female, you have to have faith in progress and opportunity," Demings explained in the video. She said that her mother, a maid, told her to "never grow tired of doing good."