The ad was accompanied by an introductory biographical ad on YouTube, in which Murphy describes himself as “a patriot, not a politician”.
Murphy, acknowledging that he is “seriously considering” a Senate run in 2022 or 2024, when Republican Senator Rick Scott is running for re-election, said his initiative was designed to “regroup, re-energize and re-energize Florida Democrats”, who saw Republicans get organized, message and vote on them, transforming the swing state from purple into a reddish battlefield.
The initiative, which at first will be a series of virtual conversations with party leaders and activists from across the state, will be administered to Murphy by former Florida Democratic Party political director Lauren Calmet, who has just been hired by the congresswoman. The talks, said Murphy, will revolve around five pillars: the Covid-19 pandemic, disinformation management, combating climate change, promoting social justice and combating voter suppression.
Murphy said he wanted to start as quickly as possible in a non-election year based on the advice he received last week from Stacey Abrams, the Georgia Democrat who helped organize his party and register so many new voters that he helped the once-red state defeat Donald Trump and elect two Democrats to the U.S. Senate. Murphy said he wants his effort to build “the right money, message and machine” to make Democrats competitive in the state, which would include stepping up voter registration efforts after Republicans eliminated that Democrats’ once-potent advantage this year. past.
Nowhere were Republican gains as striking as in Rubio’s home county, Miami-Dade, in 2020. Once a secure democratic stronghold, Trump reached a single digit to beat him, in part because of his organizational efforts and reach to Hispanic communities in South Florida filled with exiles who fled leftist regimes and violence in Latin America.
As the daughter of immigrants who fled Communist Vietnam in 1978, Murphy told his family’s story in English and Spanish during the campaign, which could be especially prominent in Miami-Dade. A former Defense Department educator, businesswoman, and adviser, Murphy in recent years has become an open voice among Florida Democrats in denouncing socialism and calling herself a capitalist.
“It is important for Democrats to be clearer about our values and to make it clear where we are,” said Murphy. “We live in the largest democracy in the world and we benefit from a free market economic system that needs to be improved, but it doesn’t need to be thrown out and replaced by socialism that has repeatedly proven that it doesn’t work for people.”
Juan Peñalosa, the former executive director of the Florida Democratic Party, said Murphy is at the forefront of Democrats against “Republican arguments that try to paint us as socialists or anti-Americans when telling these personal stories. And the fact that Republicans like Rubio have sworn allegiance to their colleagues in the Republican Party amid the insurrection that has taken place on the United States Capitol only strengthens our argument and weakens theirs. “
When Rubio first ran across the state in 2010, he emphasized the emigration of his family from Cuba. In 2013, Rubio, currently vice president of the Senate Intelligence Committee, was part of the Senate’s “Gang of Eight” bipartisan group that tried to pass immigration reform and often discussed legislation from the perspective of his family history.
Murphy today looks a lot like the Rubio of yesteryear.
“I understand this from a personal perspective,” she said. “My family and I escaped Communist Vietnam when I was just a baby. And this country has given us refuge and given me the opportunity and I had this chance to live the American dream. “
Murphy’s background and unique biography – she would be the first Asian American elected statewide in Florida and was the first woman of Vietnamese descent elected to Congress – made her one of the top recruits for the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, who urged her in particular to consider challenging Rubio and helping Democrats win a clear majority in the US Senate from 50 to 50, according to two sources informed of her recruitment effort. Murphy refused to discuss the conversations.
Murphy’s Orlando colleague, Representative Val Demings, was also approached to run against Rubio, but has been less committed than Murphy, the sources said. Demings, who served as impeachment manager during Trump’s first impeachment and was discussed as a possible running mate for Joe Biden, is sitting in a safer seat in Congress than Murphy. With the redistricting on the horizon next year, there is ample expectation that Murphy’s seat in Congress could be greatly redesigned by the Legislature led by the Republican Party, because the Orlando area is expected to win another seat due to growing population growth.
Former MP Alan Grayson, who is also a native of Orlando, is considering a dispute against Rubio as well. So far, three little-known Democrats have entered Rubio’s candidacy: Allen Ellison, Joshua Weil and Edward Abud.
Murphy said he does not have a schedule for any future announcements and stressed that the initiative is not about her.
“Even if I don’t run, I want to make sure that we have a candidate and a party infrastructure to help Democrats win across the state and put Florida families first,” she said.