Some 40 years ago, Florida elected its first woman to U.S. Senate. Will Val Demings be the second?

‘It’s taken a lot of time for women to aspire to run for statewide office.’

It’s been about four decades since a Florida woman — Republican Paula Hawkins of the Orlando area — was elected to the U.S. Senate for one term. What followed was a lineup of male-senators-only to represent Florida in the Senate chamber.

Now, in 2022, U.S. Rep. Val Demings, a Democrat in Central Florida, is pushing to shatter the glass ceiling of politics by kicking out Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and capturing a female seat for Florida in the U.S. Senate.

Read more