Donald Trump loomed large over the contentious Florida Senate debate between Sen. Marco Rubio and his Democratic challenger Rep. Patrick Murphy.
Throughout the debate, Murphy tried to tie the incumbent senator to the Republican presidential nominee, arguing that Rubio doesn’t have the “backbone” to stand up to Trump after reports that he violated the Cuban embargo. Trump also became a focal point after questions on community policing and Syria.
In the most heated exchange over the future of the Cuban embargo, Murphy invoked the GOP nominee after Trump “admitted,” according to Murphy, that some of his workers had meetings in Cuba to discuss a potential golf course in the 1990s, wondering how Rubio can support him since Cuba is a top issue for the senator.
“Senator, we know this is one of your core issues … but the person you chose to be our next president has basically admitted that he violated the embargo, and you continue to stand by his side despite this being one of your core initiatives that you care about. So what’s it going to take for you to un-endorse Donald Trump? Is there anything he can do or say at this point that you will not continue to support him?”
“That’s bizarre. Congressman Murphy, you’re criticizing Donald Trump for supporting a position that you have,” Rubio said. “You support lifting the embargo!”
“I’m criticizing you for not having the courage, senator,” Murphy said. “You have no backbone.”
“So finally Patrick Murphy agrees with Donald Trump,” Rubio said.
Earlier in the debate, after Murphy went out of his way to bring up Trump and called him the “most racist and bigoted” presidential candidate in history and how that harms community and police relations, Rubio shot back that Murphy’s answer to every question revolves about Trump, before using words from Vice President Joe Biden against him.
“Basically the answer to every question tonight by Congressman Murphy is Donald Trump,” Rubio said. “It reminds me — I’m paraphrasing the vice president, who once said that someone else’s platform is basically a noun, a verb, and in this case, a noun, a verb and Donald Trump.”
Rubio was referring to comments from Biden during the 2008 presidential campaign, when he said that former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s answers consisted of “a noun, a verb, and 9/11.”
Rubio and Murphy traded barbs throughout the debate, using their favorite lines of attack throughout. Rubio dismissed Murphy’s four years in Congress, saying he has no record to show off and repeated that Murphy is a “serial embellisher,” pointing to stories poking holes in the congressman’s claims that he is a certified public and helped with the clean-up of the Gulf of Mexico after the BP oil spill.
Meanwhile, Murphy tried to tie Rubio to Trump and attacked the sitting senator for missing 41 percent of his votes since March, 2015, most due to his campaign for the GOP presidential nomination.
Rubio continues to hold a polling advantage against the Jupiter-based congressman. According to the latest RealClearPolitics average, Rubio leads by 3.6 points over Murphy.
