Donald Trump urges Marco Rubio to re-enter race for Florida’s U.S. Senate seat

in 2017/Top Headlines by

Donald Trump is pushing for Marco Rubio to re-enter the U.S. Senate seat he is scheduled to depart in January.

In a tweet sent Thursday evening, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee called on his former bitter rival to get back into the contest.

Trump’s statement is just the latest indication of how concerned Republicans are that they are increasingly concerned about the fate of the 2016 senate race, where no Republican has broken out of the pact despite months of campaigning.

Democrats (including President Obama and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid) have put all their chips behind Jupiter Representative Patrick Murphy in his primary against Orlando area Congressman Alan Grayson. But Murphy has been suffering from a surfeit of negative news coverage over the past few weeks, yet none of the Republicans appear as of yet to be poised to take advantage of his vulnerabilities.

Top GOP senators on Capitol Hill aren’t being very subtle in calling on Rubio to get back into the race.

“Marco Rubio is a very valuable member of the Senate … and earlier this afternoon, I strongly encouraged him to reconsider his decision and seek re-election,” Tennessee Senator Bob Corker said Thursday.

And CNN quoted Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker,  chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, as saying that the prospect of Rubio running for re-election is “certainly within the realm of possibility.”

“It is a very real development,” Wicker added.
Rubio again repeated on Thursday that it is “unlikely” that he’ll get back into the contest, which has led some to speculate that such a statement gives him some wiggle room to get back into the contest. But that would seem unlikely with his all but official endorsement of his friend and political ally, Florida Lieutenant Carlos Lopez-Cantera.
Rubio announced his candidacy for president 15 months ago in Miami. He said at that time that he would not run for reelection. That was different than Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, who like Rubio was elected in the Tea Party surge of 2010. He has steadfastly maintained that he would not get back into the contest. Paul is running for reelection to maintain his seat this year.
In addition to Lopez-Cantera, the other GOP candidates include congressmen David Jolly and Ron DeSantis, former military veteran and defense contractor Todd Wilcox, and private developer Carlos Beruff.
The bitter fissure between the Rubio and Trump appears to be ending, as the party begins to embrace their new and unlikely standard bearer.
On Thursday, Rubio said in a CNN interview with Jake Tapper that, if asked, he would speak on Trump’s behalf at the Republican National Convention in July. “Certainly, yeah. I want to be helpful,” Rubio told Tapper.
Rubio  still has time – the deadline to enter the contest is June 24.

 

Mitch Perry has been a reporter with Extensive Enterprises since November of 2014. Previously, he served as five years as the political editor of the alternative newsweekly Creative Loafing. He also was the assistant news director with WMNF 88.5 FM in Tampa from 2000-2009, and currently hosts MidPoint, a weekly talk show, on WMNF on Thursday afternoons. He began his reporting career at KPFA radio in Berkeley. He's a San Francisco native who has now lived in Tampa for 15 years and can be reached at [email protected].