Val Demings understood the assignment: Fire up the crowd for her husband’s first speech announcing a run for Governor in front of hundreds in his hometown of Orlando.
“I came tonight to tell you through all of the darkness, that help is on the way!” Demings said, drawing cheers from Democrats waving signs as Jerry Demings launched his campaign.
“I count that as a blessing to have her in my corner because she will be a good confidant, a good adviser,” Jerry Demings told journalists after the rally.
Val Demings sought to introduce the state to Jerry Demings, the Orange County Mayor since 2018. But she has plenty of star power of her own.
Val Demings, a former U.S. Representative representing Orlando, was once seriously considered to be President Joe Biden’s vice presidential pick in 2020. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also tapped her to be a manager in the impeachment trial against President Donald Trump that same year. She lost to incumbent Marco Rubio in a 2022 U.S. Senate race.
Like her husband, she comes from a law enforcement background as Orlando’s first-ever female Orlando Police Chief.
They met through their careers, they told Spectrum 13 News in 2021.
Val was a rookie in the Police Department and Jerry was a detective in 1984. The case: A child broke her leg when a teenager crashed a go-cart into her.
“This was a young officer storming up to talk to a detective,” Jerry told the news station. “I just looked at this young officer … and I said, ‘Wow, this is a rookie,’ but I thought, ‘Wow, who is that?’”
Now, the couple are parents of three grown sons. Besides their family and their faith, they described their hobbies as playing the piano and riding their Harleys together, they told Spectrum 13.
At Thursday’s rally, Val Demings added some humor, threw a few slingers and portrayed her husband “as the real deal” who is a steady administrator well-tested to managing emergencies.
She said Jerry is fiscally conservative. “Believe me, I know. I live in the house with him,” she joked.
And foreshadowing Jerry’s Democratic Primary against former U.S. Rep. David Jolly, Val said her husband is “an authentic person. He doesn’t change his party or his political views like he changes his suits.”
Florida Politics asked Jerry Demings about being part of a Central Florida power couple and how he plans to work with his wife on the campaign trail.
“You have to depend on your family. My wife is experienced. She’s run statewide before. She is well-known all over this country. She’s well-known all over the state of Florida,” Jerry Demings said. “I have been out on the campaign trail with her when she was running statewide before. I learned some things from that process as well that will help me in this campaign.”