WASHINGTON — Former Orlando police chief Val Demings is back on Capitol Hill this week, raising money and making contacts to support her bid to unseat freshman U.S. Rep. Dan Webster, R-Winter Garden.
The effort comes days after the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee highlighted her U.S. House race as a target for party fundraisers, and Demings is taking full advantage.
She meets this afternoon with U.S. Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, a top Democrat leader, and is scheduled to attend a Democratic retreat this week.
“I’m sure we will talk about some of the tools of the trade that we can take back to our campaign and continue to raise the funds that we need,” she said.
Included in the three-day trip are a couple meet-and-greets with potential fundraisers, including a session with the technology sector this morning.
Demings ended 2011 on a high note, out raising Webster $239,000 to $185,000 in the last three months of the year. She’ll need much more than that, however, to combat the likely influx of outside spending her race.
In 2010, more than $1 million in spending by special interests, such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, helped Republicans beat then U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Orlando, and then-U.S. Rep. Suzanne Kosmas, D-New Smyrna Beach. A repeat could occur this year, depending on what the polls show this fall.
With this in mind, Demings said she tries to spend five hours pacing on the phone daily in an effort to fund raise — a necessary evil, she said.
“Getting on the phone every day asking people for money is tough,” she said.
But Demings said the experience has given her a greater appreciation on why she’s running. During those calls, she said she has heard from folks going through tough times, including one supporter whose daughter has breast cancer but no health insurance.
“Every American should have access to quality healthcare,” she said, noting that a main driver of her campaign is ensuring every citizen can meet their basic needs.
“Being a member of Congress gives me a direct path to deal with foreclosure, small business [ills] … and healthcare [issues],” she said.
As she has done previously, Demings also turned away suggestions that she might switch districts to run in a new Democratic-friendly seat being created by the legislature in time for the 2012 election.
The current seat “is still a good district for me,” she said, even though it’s likely to get less Democratic when the legislature redraws the lines as part of the once-a-decade process of redistricting.
