Posted by:   on June 16, 2016

After weeks of emphatically telling reporters that he would not run for reelection to the U.S. Senate, Senator Marco Rubio is inching closer to possibly changing his mind.

Rubio has said the he would not run for reelection because Lopez-Cantera, who he is backing, is already in the race.

During a press gaggle with reporters in Washington, D.C., Rubio stated this:

“Obviously, I take very seriously everything that’s going on — not just Orlando, but in our country,” he said. “I enjoy my service here a lot. So I’ll go home later this week, and I’ll have some time with my family, and then if there’s been a change in our status, I’ll be sure to let everyone know.”

Rubio spoke to his friend and senatorial candidate, Lt. Governor Carlos Lopez-Cantera shortly after the Orlando shooting regarding his political future, where Lopez-Cantera urged Rubio to reconsider running for reelection.

Rep. David Jolly (R), who is also running to replace Rubio in the Senate, will be holding a press conference on Friday to most likely announced that he will be dropping out of the GOP senatorial primary to run for reelection to his congressional seat.

Jolly has already said that he would support Rubio, if Rubio decided to make the run.

With Lopez-Cantera and Jolly both seeming to concede to Rubio (who wouldn’t), Rep. Ron DeSantis (R), another senate candidate ,was asked by conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt what he would do if Rubio ran for reelection.

Hewitt: Now Congressman, people know I’ve endorsed you for the United States Senate race. It’s an open primary right now. A lot of people are in it. At the same time, two days ago on this program, Senator Rubio indicated he is rethinking that. What’s your reaction to that? What will you do if he enters the race?

DeSantis: Well, I happened to hear about that once you did it. Look, Marco’s a good Senator. Had he announced from the beginning that he was going to run for reelection, I would not have run. I would have supported him.

And I don’t know what he’s going to do. I have no inside knowledge at all. And obviously, if he makes a decision to run, that changes a lot about how I look at the race, but I think the important thing is that if there’s a decision made, it should be made quickly, because I think what’s happened is a lot of the rumors over the last several weeks have made it more difficult for guys like me to get, continue on the path of success. And I just think it’s better for everyone if this decision is made sooner rather than later. Even if Marco runs, I mean, he’s going to want to have the opportunity to ramp back up. So I know no more than you, and I’ll wait and see what happens.

Even though he lost badly to Trump in the 2016 GOP presidential primary race, Rubio is still one of the most, if not the most popular Republican politicians in the state of Florida.

If Rubio gets in the race, he clears the field.

In comparison, if Rubio runs for reelection and Donald Trump wins the GOP presidential nomination, the one-two punch at the top of the ticket in Florida on election day could prove to be what the Republican Party needs to win or retain a significant amount of down-ballot municipal, state, and congressional seats.

Back in 2012, the enthusiasm for then-Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, and Senate nominee Connie Mack, was amebic.

Voters came out and voted against President Obama instead of coming out to vote in favor of Romney and Mack.

This article is republished with permission from our friends at the Shark Tank.
Read more at http://shark-tank.com/2016/06/16/marco-rubio-for-u-s-senate-reelection-run-could-be-imminent/