(WSVN) - As early voting kicks off in South Florida, one of the races voters will decide on is who will take a U.S. Senate seat.
Both candidates, Democratic Congresswoman Val Demings and Republican incumbent Marco Rubio, held campaign events as voting began Monday.
There was a good turnout at Mo’s Bagels & Deli in Aventura for Demings as she shook hands with potential voters.
She toured the entire state, which started up in the Panhandle Sunday and made its way to South Florida Monday. It will then end in the Florida Keys on Tuesday.
“Voters have a clear choice,” Demings said. “I’ve dedicated my life to public service, first as a social worker and a law enforcement officer, chief of police who got results. I took that same spirit and attitude to the House of Representatives. I’ll take that same spirit and attitude to the United States Senate. No one will work harder for them and their families and their future.”
After Aventura, she made a stop in Miramar and then made her way to a library in North Miami, both were early voting locations.
Demings also said she finds her inspiration from her parents because they turned out and voted every year.
“I want the voters to know that their vote is their voice. That’s the way we bring much-needed change to our state, and I’m very excited for today,” Demings said.
In Hialeah, Rubio made his case on why voters should keep him in the U.S. Senate.
His event wrapped up outside of John F. Kennedy Library, off of 49th Street.
Several Republican officials were at Rubio’s campaign event, which included Florida’s Lt. Gov. Jeanette Núñez, who spoke at the event.
Rubio spoke to about 100 or so people, mostly in Spanish, focusing on what he has described as Democrat failures over the past two years, which included the state of the economy and the Southern border.
“In this country, we decide who governs by elections, and the purpose of today’s gathering is to remind early voting has started, you can now go out and vote, and you need to because they are counting on you not voting, especially those who support us here on this stage,” Rubio said. “They’re counting on you not voting because they want you to believe the elections are over, the polls say this, say that, don’t believe any of that stuff. I don’t believe in any poll, not mine, not even the ones I pay for or have paid for in the past. The only poll I believe in is the one they’re going to take two weeks from tomorrow, and that poll is in your hands, not in anybody else’s.”
This was Rubio’s only scheduled stop in South Florida.
Monday marks day one of early voting, and so far so good at polling locations.
“We had a very smooth start this morning at 7 a.m. Voters are turning out,” said Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections, Christina White.
No matter who you vote for, voters say it’s important to exercise your right to vote.
“It’s extremely important,” said Linda, a voter. “It’s our voice. People worry, ‘My vote doesn’t count,’ but I don’t believe in that.”
To find early voting locations in Miami-Dade County, click here. For Broward County, click here.
Vote by mail is already in effect, and more than a million voters have voted that way already.
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