Murphy, Rubio Trade Jabs Over Accomplishments
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) - One of the more contentious races in this year's general election pits Republican incumbent Senator Marco Rubio against challenger Democratic Florida Representative Patrick Murphy.
Initially, Rubio said he would not run for U.S. Senate again, but when he lost his bid for the Republican nominee for president he changed his mind.
Throughout the race, Rubio faced criticism by some for not un-endorsing Donald Trump as other Republicans had. Although he had condemned Trump several times while keeping his distance during his campaign.
Murphy, on the other hand, aligned himself closely with Clinton. Tuesday morning, he told CBS4 he was feeling good about the race.
"We are feeling a lot of momentum right now. We are so excited, as I've been traveling the state I've been feeling the momentum from so many folks, Republicans, Democrats, Independents alike telling me 'Hey Patrick, we want a senator that is going to show up for work, someone who is going to be there for us, addressing the issues we care about, not someone who is running for president the whole time like Marco Rubio," said Murphy.
Murphy he's proud to have a 97 percent voting record in the state's House and is proud of what he's achieved while he's been there.
"Whether that means bringing home billions of dollars for the Everglades, whether that means passing legislation to lower flood insurance rates or work I've done on the intelligence committee to help keep this country safe," said Murphy.
Murphy, who represents Florida's 18 District, said if elected he'd work with Republicans to help solve problems.
"Compare that to Senator Rubio who tells us he doesn't even like his job, who has the worst voting record of any senator from Florida in nearly 50 years," said Murphy. "Florida deserves better than that."
When asked about a report in the Tampa Bay Times that the FBI was investigating one of his campaign donors who reportedly made illegal donations, Murphy said the accusation was made by a Republican super PAC whose goal is to put out there false claims to derail Democratic candidates.
Rubio told CBS4 that Murphy is once again exaggerating his record and accomplishments.
"What he's saying is completely untrue about his own record. He's been in Congress for four years and he's never passed a single law. Some of the things he's bragging about either didn't happen or he's talking about a letter he signed on to. So he has no record of achievement," he said.
Rubio said he's proud of what he's done over the last six years, including the VA accountability act, the foreign aid transparency act and the Girls Count act which takes on human trafficking.
"I have a record of actually getting things done over the last six years. He's never passed a bill and other Democrats have, he hasn't done anything in the four years that he's been there. We already have a do nothing Congress, the last thing we need is to have one of the least effective members of Congress be one of our two senators in Washington," said Rubio.
Rubio said voters should put their trust in him since he's been able to get things done from the time he was the state's Speak of the House to his time on Capitol Hill. He added that what he's accomplished in Washington is because he's been able to reach across the aisle and work with Democrats to get things done.
"The Girls Count Act was a bi-partisan law that I wrote and we passed. Sanctions against Hezbollah, sanctions against Maduro, the accountability act I worked with Bernie Sanders on, so I can work across the aisle to get things done. Do I have differences with Democrats on some issues? Of course, and we'll debate those. But on the issues that we agree on, let's get things done."
An amazing number of national and regional news organizations are at Rubio's Election Day event.
Tuesday night will show if the voters will send him back to Washington.
"I have record of getting things done," Rubio said. "I did it as speaker of the house and I did it as a U.S. Senator. And right now you have a congress that is incredibly dysfunctional all of the major issues in this county have not been able to be solved. I have a record of working across the aisle. Every bill I have decided that have gotten done were bipartisan."
Rubio has maintained a five-to-seven point lead during the campaign against Murphy.
Complete Campaign 2016 coverage here: cbsmiami.com/campaign2016
