Senate Hopeful Val Demings to Fundraise with Defund the Police Champion SF Mayor London Breed

Rep. Val Demings (D-FL), who is vying to challenge Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) this fall, is set to fundraise with San Francisco Mayor London Breed (D) — an early supporter of the Defund the Police movement.

Demings is heading to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) hometown of San Francisco on Thursday evening to fundraise with Mayor Breed. This is significant, as Demings, a former police chief, is aligning herself with a champion of the Defund the Police movement. Breed was so on board with the movement that she slashed her city’s police and sheriff departments by $120 million in the summer of 2020, vowing to demilitarize the police, end police responses to “non-criminal” activity, redirect funds to focus on “racial equity,” and address “bias”:

Demings is no stranger to the movement either, as she once called the Minneapolis City Council’s idea to dismantle the police department a “very thoughtful” idea.

Rubio, by contrast, has continued to rake in endorsements from law enforcement organizations across the Sunshine State. In January, a bipartisan group of 55 sheriffs endorsed the senator, and months later, the 1,000+ member Florida Police Chiefs Association (FPCA) offered its endorsement as well. Most recently, the 30,000+ member Florida Police Benevolent Association endorsed Rubio, creating a further contrast between Rubio and Demings:

“Val Demings, who votes with the Speaker 100 percent of the time, will feel right at home in Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco. It’s no surprise that Demings is choosing to raise money alongside Defund the Police advocate London Breed — Demings herself called defunding the police, ‘very thoughtful,'” Elizabeth Gregory, spokeswoman for Rubio for Senate, said in a statement.

“Seems like Demings’ radical agenda would be better suited to California than Florida,” she added.

A recent Giffords and Public Policy Polling survey found Rubio leading Demings by six percentage points.