Rubio announced in April 2015 that he would not run for re-election to pursue his presidential bid.
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“I strongly endorse his candidacy and his re-election”.
“David Jolly wanted any excuse to end his Senate campaign that was defined by lackluster support and pathetic attempts to scrub his lobbying career from his public biography”, Weiner said in a statement. Should he change his mind, he only has until noon on June 24 to qualify for the state’s August 30 primary election.
“I think all signs are pointing to him running”, Jolly said in an interview with the Times/Herald two weeks ago.
The ad revisits a major complaint Democrats used against Rubio earlier this year when he was still running for president – that he was AWOL in his day job.
Jolly had been in a battle to win the Republican nomination for the seat with fellow Florida Rep. Ron DeSantis and Lt. Gov. Carlos López-Cantera as well as other candidates.
Rubio pulled his name out of the running for the Senate seat he now holds during his failed bid for the Republican nomination for president.
Many Republican lawmakers have pressured Rubio to run again because they’re nervous the GOP could lose his seat to a Democrat.
David Jolly on Friday announced he will pull out of the Republican primary to replace Sen. At the same time, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump have been placing pressure on Rubio to run for re-election, as the party’s Senate majority is in danger of being swept away. Rubio has said he plans to spend the weekend considering his options. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera, a friend of Rubio’s who is running for his seat, encouraged him to run in the aftermath of the Orlando shooting, according to Politico.
“After a bruising 20 point loss to Donald Trump in the Florida presidential primary, recent polls have shown again that Floridians just don’t like Marco Rubio, and this video makes it clear why”, she added. That Rubio has fans in some very powerful places who are willing to help him get reelected counts for something (though perhaps less so in the Year of Trump). “They don’t get to pick our candidates”.
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The victor will face the victor of the Democratic primary that pits U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy against U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson.
