In November, he faces off against Patrick Murphy, who was projected to soar to victory against fellow congressman Alan Grayson in their bitterly fought Democratic primary.
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Tuesday’s outcome was what Democratic leaders have wanted for almost 18 months. That spurred one of the state’s most heavily contested congressional election years. But after having been tested many times in presidential debates earlier this year, Rubio looks eager to engage his rival. Polls indicate more Florida voters have an unfavorable view of Clinton (as well as Trump). He continued that line of attack on Tuesday.
“Marco Rubio has to get back in the I-4 corridor and work every day from here until the general election reintroducing himself to voters who have supported him in the past”, said analyst Brian Aungst Jr.
“I’m not going to be endorsing Patrick Murphy for sure”, Grayson told the Orlando Sentinel Tuesday night. Here’s a guy who has missed more votes than any senator from Florida in almost 50 years. Rubio who just yesterday said no one can make a commitment to a six-year term.
“With a vacancy on the Supreme Court, with the potential that Chuck Schumer of NY will be the majority leader”. The Mexican leader had invited both Trump and Hillary Clinton to visit Mexico. Florida’s Senate seat is among nine that’s considered a toss-up.
“Control of the Senate may very well come down to the race in Florida”, said Rubio.
Rubio has half-heartedly endorsed Trump since their bruising presidential battles. Among them were Rubio’s close personal friend and Lt. Governor Carlos Lopez-Cantera and Reps. But national Republicans had other plans, putting on an aggressive campaign to draft Rubio into the race out of fear that Beruff and any of four other Republicans in the early running for the GOP nomination would ultimately lose the seat.
The big win was doubly impressive because Rubio was not expected to seek re-election after running unsuccessfully for the presidential nomination in the raw and raucous GOP primary. But Beruff never gained traction. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., was looking forward to being a “private citizen in January”, and Senate Republicans were fretting over their lackluster field to replace him.
“What I am done making is unequivocal statements about anything”, Rubio said. Republicans are defending 24 seats in the 2016 election, compared to 10 Democratic seats that go before voters.
“He still says that deal will bring us peace in our time”. (Rubio has since said he’ll support Trump.) Then there’s the matter of his Senate voting record, one of the worst in Congress over 2015, and that an editorial in one of Florida’s largest newspapers called on Rubio to step down. But a series of self-inflicted résumé gaffes uncovered by the Herald/Times altered that equation.
The Associated Press also projected that congressman Murphy had won the Democratic primary in the state by a margin of 59 to 18 percentage points.
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Grayson disputed the accusation but it wasn’t enough to keep him competitive against Murphy. Grayson barely was leading Keith to hold onto a distant second-place finish in the race.
