The gloves were off as U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy sparred in a spirited debate in Orlando Monday evening, attacking each other over a wide array of issues from gun control, climate change and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
Rubio and Murphy met at the University of Central Florida in Orlando for a faceoff in a high-stakes debate for one of the most competitive races in the Sunshine State. ABC-TV’s Jonathan Karl moderated; panelists were WFTV-9's Greg Warmoth and Nancy Alvarez, and Politico's Marc Caputo.
The event kicked off with criticisms over both candidates’ support for their party’s presidential nominees. Rubio and Murphy have endorsed their respective party’s nominee, which provided a continuing source of question fodder throughout the night.
Rubio challenged Murphy’s commitment to Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, saying his allegiance to her should be a source of concern for voters.
Murphy has said he trusts Clinton completely, a statement often at odds with polls showing most voters don’t find her to be trustworthy.
“If Congressman Murphy trusts Hillary 100 percent, he’s in rare company,” Rubio said.
But Rubio, too, was not off the hook. Murphy dogged him repeatedly for supporting GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, a controversial firecracker who has engulfed the national Republican Party in the flames during this election cycle with remarks about Mexicans and women.
Rubio, once a contender in the GOP presidential primary, endorsed Trump after dropping out of the race -- an endorsement he has stood firm by, despite not fully agreeing with Trump’s controversial comments.
Murphy hit on that tie throughout the debate, depicting it as a sign of weakness for the Florida senator.
"If you can't stand up to Trump now, how will you stand up to him if he's president?" Murphy asked Rubio.
"I have deep reservations about the nominee of my party,” Rubio explained. But he made it plain that the alternative, Hillary Clinton, was far worse.
The debate touched on several hot button issues like gun control and immigration.
On gun control, the candidates honed in on the Orlando Pulse shooting to exemplify their different stances.
Murphy has repeatedly called for the need to have stronger gun control laws in the U.S., a position he says will help prevent mass shootings like Pulse, which left 49 dead. The Democratic congressman has called for a total ban of military-style weapons like the gun Omar Mateen used in the Orlando shooting.
Rubio said the issue does not completely lie with gun control, but rather with terrorism, because Pulse shooter Mateen had passed background checks but had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.
"Pulse ... was a terror attack ... from ISIS, [which] I have warned about for four years when Obama said it was a JV team,” Rubio said, calling Murphy’s “politicizing” of the tragedy “shameful.”
The two exchanged jabs over immigration, an issue Rubio said Murphy just recently became interested in over the last few weeks. Murphy criticized Rubio for his record on immigration and on Dreamers, people who were brought into the U.S. at an early age without documentation. Murphy, in turn, constantly jabbed back with charges Murphy is a shadow of a representative, who has no record on anything.
He said since the day he was elected, Murphy hasn’t done much of anything to make his mark, which is likely to be a significant problem: Nobody knows who he is in Washington and he'll have a job getting anything done, Rubio said. "He does not have a single, signature achievement in his entire 4 years in Congress."
Murphy, in turn, attacked Rubio’s poor attendance record.
Six months ago, polls showed Rubio outshining Murphy significantly, but that gap has narrowed in recent weeks, partially due to a lack of enthusiasm from GOP voters about Donald Trump.
Though Rubio still leads in the polls, the race is close enough to call a toss-up. Political observers believe the large and growing base of Hispanic voters could decide the outcome. Though Rubio is a first-generation American whose parents emigrated from Cuba, immigration activists have been critical of his position. Rubio also must survive Trump’s unpopularity with Hispanics, who favor Hillary Clinton over Trump 54 percent to 30 percent, according to an Associated Industries of Florida poll.
Murphy, meanwhile, has to prove to Hispanics he's a man they can trust, who will represent their interests when Rubio is no longer there for them.
Reach reporter Allison Nielsen by email at allison@sunshinestatenews.com or follow her on Twitter: @AllisonNielsen.
