Former cop Demings faces progressive pushback in veepstakes
By Julia Manchester and Scott Wong - 06/19/20 06:00 AM EDT
ORLANDO — Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.) is coming under intense scrutiny from progressives over her record as Orlando police chief a decade ago, posing a potential hurdle to her prospects of becoming Joe Biden's running mate.
Biden is facing growing pressure to pick an African-American woman as his vice president following nationwide protests over the death of George Floyd while in police custody.
And many Democrats have pointed to Demings, a second-term Florida congresswoman, as someone who could straddle the emotional divide over police reform: a former police chief who can speak personally about police brutality and systemic racism against blacks but who insulates Democrats from GOP charges they are soft-on-crime liberals.
But as Demings’s star rises, some Black Lives Matter (BLM) and other progressive activists are taking aim at her tenure as Orlando's first female police chief, which spanned 2007 to 2011, and they are questioning whether someone who spent a decades-long career in law enforcement is right for this moment.
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https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/503492-former-cop-demings-faces-progressive-pushback-in-veepstakes
