In October, Rep. Val Demings announced that she took in $8.4 million for the third quarter of 2021 in her bid to unseat incumbent Sen. Marco Rubio in the 2022 midterms.
“I am humbled by and thankful for the support as we come together to flip Florida blue,” Demings tweeted. “This momentum is growing.”
Demings, the former chief of police in Orlando, has served in Congress since 2017. She’s seen as a rising star in Democratic circles and is a member of the House committees on Homeland Security, the Judiciary, and Intelligence.
A political moderate, Demings is positioning herself as the party’s best option to take on Rubio, who is running for his third term as senator. Demings outraised Rubio in the third quarter, as the incumbent took in only $6 million, less than three-quarters of Demings’ haul.
Why is Demings raising so much money with a year to go until the election? Here are four reasons.
She’s seen as the frontrunner among would-be challengers to Rubio
Before she faces Rubio, Demings has to win the Democratic primary and is not the only big name running for the nod. Still, she’s already emerged as the odds-on favorite. Demings has managed to convince donors small and large that she’s the best shot to defeat Rubio—whose national unpopularity among progressives and Democrats is turning out to be a powerful driver of fundraising. We saw this in 2020 against Sens. Mitch McConnell and Lindsay Graham, though the Democratic candidates in those races faced much tougher races and both lost.
Democrats are betting Demings, a popular rep in a swing state, can beat the odds.
She’s captivating small donors
Demings is pursuing a small-donor strategy and it’s working. Almost all of the $8.4 million she raised in Q3 came from small donors; only $300,000 came from PACs and other large committee contributors.
“It’s just a very impressive top-line number,” Bully Pulpit Interactive founder Ben LaBolt told Politico.
Demings’ average donation was $28.45 in Q3, up slightly from $26 in Q2. During that frenzied round of fundraising, coming after she announced, Demings took in $4.7 million—including $1 million the day she announced.
She’s raising money nationally
Demings has raised her money primarily from out-of-state donors. According to Bully Pulpit Interactive, she spent 80% of digital advertising dollars targeting donors outside of Florida, including a whopping $2.8 million on Facebook ads that made her the social media site’s eighth-highest advertiser.
The candidate’s language has reflected this—she’s referred to both Florida voters and the American people as her supporters and noted the need to hold the Senate on a national scale.
“I have been humbled and honored by the outpouring of support from across Florida and around the nation,” Demings said after announcing her Q2 numbers. “Florida voters and the American people clearly know what’s at stake in this U.S. Senate election.”
She has a real shot at winning
The grassroots fundraising numbers for Demings indicate there’s a national interest in taking Rubio down. Demings will need to translate that nationwide enthusiasm into Florida votes, but she’s well known and respected around the state and has a high enough national profile to go toe-to-toe with her opponent in media hits on the big networks.
Demings has been hitting notes about her law enforcement background and Florida-first politics, a tactical decision in a swing state that’s tilting to the right to eschew the Democratic Party’s progressive base in exchange for the more conservative voters she believes she’ll need to win over to take the seat.
Rubio won his last election by eight points after being outraised by his opponent, former Rep. Patrick Murphy, $19 million to $17 million. Demings has a similar advantage so far, running about $2 million ahead of the incumbent, but Rubio will have institutional cash and support—as well as dark money spending—on his side as the race gets tighter and Election Day draws closer.
“We expect that these resources will pale in comparison to the vast amounts of wealthy corporate money that Mitch McConnell and Marco Rubio will spend in this election,” Demings’ campaign manager Zach Carroll said. “Make no mistake: We expect to get outspent, and our historically strong fundraising will simply allow us to keep up with the tens of millions of dollars wealthy special interests will dump into Florida on Marco Rubio’s behalf next year.”