Floridians have taken to the streets in support of the Cuban people, galvanizing around the cries for freedom for our southern neighbors. These Floridians understand this moment. Does Val Demings, the Democrat who wants to represent them in the U.S. Senate?

Her response seems to show her caught between calling out the brutal socialist regime for what it is, or siding with the weak response of her fellow Democrats in Washington. 

She fumbled on her first statement when she failed to denounce the Cuban government as the socialist, communist, and marxist regime that it is. Her progressive colleagues in Congress, such as House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Gregory Meeks and Rep. Barbara Lee, are going in the wrong direction, calling for an end to Trump sanctions on Cuba. And they both have endorsed Demings.

But as Politico reported yesterday, Floridians are not happy with the Democrats' weak response. So now, days after she sided with her powerful Washington friends, Demings is trying to catch up with Floridians on the issue, doing some cleanup with a second statement that at least acknowledges Cuba’s socialist ways. But what does this tell us about how Demings will act if she is in the U.S. Senate? Will she instinctively side with powerful Washington interests as she did this week, or with Floridians?

These historic Cuban protests are putting in stark relief the importance of having a Senator who understands the history of Cuba-U.S. relations, the brutality of the current regime, the close ties to Florida, and brings the ability to clearly see what is right, rather than what is politically expedient. We have that Senator right now in Marco Rubio.

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