{"id":37313,"date":"2025-11-07T14:00:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T14:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/37313\/"},"modified":"2025-11-07T14:00:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T14:00:09","slug":"val-demings-stands-in-jerry-demings-corner-as-orlandos-power-couple-hits-the-campaign-trail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/37313\/","title":{"rendered":"Val Demings stands in Jerry Demings’ corner as Orlando’s power couple hits the campaign trail"},"content":{"rendered":"

Val Demings understood the assignment: Fire up the crowd for her husband\u2019s first speech announcing a run for Governor in front of hundreds in his hometown of Orlando.<\/p>\n

\u201cI came tonight to tell you through all of the darkness, that help is on the way!\u201d Demings said, drawing cheers from Democrats waving signs as Jerry Demings launched his campaign<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI count that as a blessing to have her in my corner because she will be a good confidant, a good adviser,\u201d Jerry Demings told journalists after the rally.<\/p>\n

Val Demings sought to introduce the state to Jerry Demings, the Orange County Mayor since 2018<\/a>. But she has plenty of star power of her own.<\/p>\n

Val Demings, a former U.S. Representative representing Orlando, was once seriously considered<\/a> to be President Joe Biden\u2019s vice presidential pick in 2020. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also tapped her to be a manager in the impeachment trial<\/a> against President Donald Trump that same year. She lost to incumbent Marco Rubio in a 2022 U.S. Senate race<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Like her husband, she comes from a law enforcement background as Orlando\u2019s first-ever female Orlando Police Chief.<\/p>\n

They met through their careers, they told Spectrum 13 News<\/a> in 2021.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was a young officer storming up to talk to a detective,\u201d Jerry told the news station. \u201cI just looked at this young officer \u2026 and I said, \u2018Wow, this is a rookie,\u2019 but I thought, \u2018Wow, who is that?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

At Thursday\u2019s rally, Val Demings added some humor, threw a few slingers and portrayed her husband \u201cas the real deal\u201d who is a steady administrator well-tested to managing emergencies.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She said Jerry is fiscally conservative. \u201cBelieve me, I know. I live in the house with him,\u201d she joked.<\/p>\n

And foreshadowing Jerry\u2019s Democratic Primary against former U.S. Rep. David Jolly, Val said her husband is \u201can authentic person. He doesn\u2019t change his party or his political views like he changes his suits.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to depend on your family. My wife is experienced. She\u2019s run statewide before. She is well-known all over this country. She\u2019s well-known all over the state of Florida,\u201d Jerry Demings said. \u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Val Demings understood the assignment: Fire up the crowd for her husband\u2019s first speech announcing a run for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":37314,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[444,24791,1813,8134,1335,139,141,140,25626],"class_list":{"0":"post-37313","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-2026-governor-election","9":"tag-2026-governor-race","10":"tag-david-jolly","11":"tag-jerry-demings","12":"tag-orange-county","13":"tag-orlando","14":"tag-orlando-headlines","15":"tag-orlando-news","16":"tag-val-demings"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}