Incumbent Republican Marco Rubio and Democratic Congressman Patrick Murphy clashed Wednesday night in an intense, hour-long debate -- over foreign policy, the economy, the minimum wage, Donald Trump and, of course, who has the better credentials to serve Florida in the U.S. Senate.
Televised statewide from Broward College, the event set the stage for the final act on Election Day, now less than 13 days away.
Both candidates preferred to slam each other with familiar retorts -- for Rubio, it’s that Murphy hasn’t really accomplished much in office -- and for Murphy, it’s that Rubio has loftier ambitions and a high absence record.
Murphy criticized Rubio for his allegiance to Trump despite disagreements with the presidential candidate and Trump’s apparent lack of knowledge on foreign policy issues.
“You’ve got to be able to stand up to people like Donald Trump if you care about our national security,” Murphy said.
Rubio flexed his foreign policy muscles in retort, responding to Murphy’s apparent flop after he incorrectly identified the Peshmerga military group as Syrian when they are actually the military forces of the Iraqi Kurdistan.
“He criticized someone for not knowing the facts about the region,” Rubio scoffed. “Congressman, there are no Peshmerga in Syria.”
Murphy sits on the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
On the economy, Murphy supported raising the minimum wage, saying it was unfair that people working 40 hours a week were still living below the poverty line.
"Anyone willing to work a full time job in this country shouldn't be living in poverty,” he explained.
Rubio rebuffed Murphy’s comments and for trying to sympathize with the plight of the average voter struggling with finances, considering Murphy comes from a wealthy family and is a bona fide multi-millionaire. Living paycheck to paycheck, Rubio said, has never been anything Murphy's had to experience personally.
Rubio systematically dismantled Murphy over the CPA and small business embellishments on his resume. Murphy never worked as a CPA in Florida, he never helped clean up the Gulf after the BP spill, and his “small business” was a subsidiary of his father’s company. Rubio made sure all viewers knew that.
When it came to their voting records, both candidates had something to say about their opponents’ work in office.
Murphy criticized Rubio for his absence in the Senate during his failed run to become the GOP presidential nominee. During that period, Rubio missed 40 percent of the votes in the Senate.
“He had zero influence ... because everyone knows he has one foot out the door,” Murphy explained.
Rubio, on the other hand, said he had a hand in many important bills, like the congressional measure for Zika prevention, while Murphy has been mostly ineffective during his four years as a congressman.
“I’m proud of my record,” Rubio said. “I’ve actually gotten things done.”
Rubio and Murphy remained upbeat as the debate came to a close.
“We're going to be OK … America's best days are ahead of us,” said Rubio.
Rubio has been leading over Murphy in every poll of the race taken, but those numbers have tightened in recent weeks. Some polls show Rubio’s lead as large as 10 percent over Murphy, while others have it narrowed to 3 percent.
Murphy recently nixed a Univision-hosted debate because Rubio wanted to speak Spanish while he would have had to use an interpreter.
The election will be held Nov. 8.
Reach reporter Allison Nielsen by email at allison@sunshinestatenews.com or follow her on Twitter: @AllisonNielsen.
