When Democrat Val Demings served in congress alongside Republican Ted Yoho, the pair did not get along.
“I remember some negative interactions at Capitol Hill between you and me,” Demings said to Yoho during a recent One Small Step conversation. For Yoho, the feeling was mutual.
“I don't know if it's on your side, but I know it was on my side: I just didn't like you,” Yoho said. “And I'm like, ah, this is going to be one of those radical Democrats that we're going to have to fight. And you probably felt the same way.”
Central Florida Public Media and StoryCorps are bringing together people with differing political views for guided conversations. Yoho and Demings recently sat down for a conversation.
“It gives you and me the opportunity to show that it's hard to hate up close,” Demings said.
Meet Val Demings
Democrat Val Demings was first elected to Congress in 2016, and served three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives.
During that time, she rose to national prominence as one of the impeachment managers for President Donald Trump, and was in the running to be Joe Biden’s vice president in 2020. She also ran against Florida Senator Marco Rubio and lost that race.
She was born in rural Jacksonville and comes from a large family: Seven kids. Her mother was a maid and her father was a janitor. Her mother’s faith led her to the church as well.
“She was Baptist; My dad was Methodist,” Demings said. “On first and third Sundays, we'd go to church [with] my mom, to the Baptist Church, and then on second and fourth Sunday, we’d go to the Methodist church.”
When she got to Capitol Hill, she asked about a prayer group for members of Congress. When she walked in, she found the room to be all white male Republicans - including someone she’d run against.
“My first thought was, ‘I'm sorry, I am obviously in the wrong place,’” Demings said.
“You were judging,” Yoho said with a laugh.
But Demings said she remembered she was there for bible study, and stayed. During those meetings, the group prayed for sick family members and talked about their hopes and fears. It helped her to see past the politics of a vote.
“That Thursday morning (prayer) group became one of the best experiences for me on Capitol Hill,” Demings said.
Meet Ted Yoho
Ted Yoho was born in Minnesota, but moved to Florida while he was in elementary school.
He met his wife when they were in the fourth grade, and was married at 19. He was working to support the family, but at one point got laid off. There was no family support, he said, so he recycled cans and bottles for cash and returned wedding presents.
The experience shaped his political views.
“We got on food stamps for six weeks,” Yoho said. “We started, and we had to overcome that. And my political views kind of came out of that.”
Yoho said the decision to run for office came after listening to Republican Cliff Stearns do an interview on NPR. Stearns had been in congress since 1988 when Yoho ran against him.
“I said, that's our problem,” Yoho said. “All they do is talk about stuff. They don't fix it.”
Yoho was elected as part of the Tea Party wave. He served on the Agriculture and Foreign Affairs committees. One area where his views changed: Foreign aid.
“I was the second wave of the Tea Party movement. When I said, ‘Get rid of foreign aid,’ people would stand up and cheer and applaud,” Yoho said. “But what I found out is I was ignorant about what foreign aid was and what it wasn't. … So I became a big proponent of the good stuff, get rid of the bad.”
The Takeaway
There is one area where Yoho and Demings can agree: Faith.
Yoho said his faith helps him to cut through the “chatter.”
“My alignment in life, and this helped me, was God, country and family,” Yoho said. “And some people will say, you should put your family first. Well, I'm like, I gotta put my country, because if I lose my country, my family's going to be in that much more jeopardy.”
Demings said when she hears those political values - God, country and family - she would say the same thing.
“I love this country. The opportunities that I've had and I've seen others like me have were created in this country,” Demings said. “Are we perfect? No, but we're still working for that more perfect union. We all have a role to play. Yet we're in two different political parties, but the soul, the essence of what we believe, lines up.”
Both Demings and Yoho both agreed that public service matters. And that the next generation coming up needs to spend time with people who they disagree with politically, and do more listening.
“There has to be a change,” Yoho said.
“There has to be a change,” Demings agreed. “Because if there's not a change, we're doomed.”
When looking to the future, Yoho said he’s considering a run for president in 2028. Yoho asked what Demings’ future plans were.
“We've had a great time here, but people have approached me too about running for president, so we might want to team up, just so we can save the friendship,” Demings said with a laugh.
“I was gonna say, I’ll send you an invite to the White House,” Yoho replied.
