As November approaches, so do the midterm elections and with many students at Robinson eligible to vote, one race will have a more profound impact on the lives of Robinson students. United States Senator and incumbent Marco Rubio is running to serve a third term in one of Florida’s two senate seats. However, he has stiff competition against democratic nominee, Val Demings. 

Rubio, a seasoned politician, has had many years of experience working with the law. From 2000-2008, he served as a member of the Florida House of Representatives, the last two years serving as Speaker of the House. From there, he moved onto his Senate seat which he has held since 2011. Similar to Rubio, Demings also has roots in government. She started out as a social worker, then joined the police force and worked her way up to become police chief. Since 2016, Demings has been serving as a United States Representative for Florida. 

There are a lot of issues that will be brought up for this midterm election, but schools and education are one of the largest topics. 

With attacks on schools and threats to attack schools rampant not only across the country but close to home with a lockdown taking place during the 2021-2022 school year at Robinson, school safety is one of the forefront issues. 

Rubio, an A+ rated Senator by the NRA, places more blame on the attacker in the school shooting than the one allowing him/her to have a weapon in the first place. 

“At the end of the day, the issue is not the firearm, it’s the lunatic. [What] we should be focused on is how do we prevent [these people] and stop them before they act,” Rubio said in an interview with 10 Tampa Bay in reference to the Texas school shooting.

Many, including Rubio, are against heavily regulating access to guns on the grounds that it would violate one’s second amendment rights. However, Demings takes a different stance. 

“I just don’t know why this [gun control in reference to the Parkland School Shooting] is such a difficult topic,” Demings said in a 2018 interview with the Washington Journal. “When some say every time we talk about gun safety legislation that we are trying to attack the second amendment…this issue has nothing to do with the second amendment, it is all about keeping guns out of the hands of bad people.”

Another forefront issue affecting students is how these candidates feel about school funding. Hillsborough County and public schools as a whole are always in need of new funding with shortages being visibly seen in everyday life, such as teacher shortages.

In January of this year, Demings backed the American Rescue Plan which allotted FEMA funding to be available to Florida schools to keep them open, however, Rubio believed the bill was a waste of funds and part of the “Democrats’ COVID spending spree.” Additionally, Rubio does have a history of diverting funds away from public schools. In 2013, Rubio reintroduced the Educational Opportunities Act which would allow for tax dollars to be allocated towards paying scholarships to send children to private schools. This would essentially fund private schools on the taxpayers’ dime. 

“I think it’s sad that the republican agenda includes [taking] our tax dollars and putting it towards private schools,” Orli Probasco (’24) said. “I think children should be able to receive a good public education without worrying about financials and if they [the parents of children] want to send their kids to a non-government funded private school they need to pay for it.”