After months of insisting he would not run for reelection, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio now seems to have cracked the door open ever-so-slightly to putting his name back on the ballot in an interview Monday with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt.
Previously, Rubio had been adamant that he would not seek reelection, an insistence that started more than a year ago when he launched his presidential campaign. As Heat Street reported a few weeks ago, Rubio has been supporting his close friend, Florida Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera, to succeed him in the Senate, frequently speaking words of praise and even participating in a recent call with major donors to urge them to financially support Lopez-Cantera.
But Sunday’s terror attack in Orlando, which claimed the lives of 49 and injured 53 more at a popular downtown gay nightclub, clearly had a powerful impact on the Senator. Rubio drove up to Orlando on Sunday from his West Miami home, and was there at the scene along with Sen. Bill Nelson (D), Florida Gov. Rick Scott, and Lopez-Cantera, to help coordinate response efforts and show support for the victims.
Monday morning, Rubio called into Hewitt’s show to discuss the events in Orlando (full transcript of relevant remarks at the end of this article). After discussing how the shooter may have been inspired by or connected to ISIS, and the challenges of fighting this kind of terrorism, Hewitt asked Rubio if the attacks had made him reconsider running for reelection.
Rubio sighed before answering and the hesitation was evident in his voice. He acknowledged that the attacks were the kind of event that “really gives you pause to think a little about, you know, your service to your country and where you can be most useful.”
Hewitt pressed him, and Rubio responded that running for reelection had not been part of his family’s plan, and mentioned that his friend — meaning Lopez-Cantera — was running for the seat. Rubio also expressed a need to take a few days to process everything that had happened.
Hewitt followed up, noting that Rubio was one of the “people who know this issue” of foreign policy and national security, referring to Rubio’s work with the Senate Foreign Relations and Intelligence Committees.
“Well, as I said, my family and I will be praying about all this,” Rubio replied, “and we’ll see what I need to do next with my life in regards to how I can best serve.”
As expected, Rubio’s comments that he was thinking about “how he can best serve” set off a wave of speculation that he was considering getting back in the race. Those close to Rubio, however, still voiced strong skepticism that he would run again.
Politico’s Florida Reporter, Marc Caputo, told Heat Street that he still viewed a Rubio run as highly unlikely, but did acknowledge that the Hewitt interview sounded like Rubio had moved from a “no” to a “slight maybe.” In an article published Monday afternoon, Caputo described Rubio as being “shook” by the Orlando attacks, that they had resulted in the Senator “giving real consideration to running again.”
“You never want to make a decision” in the middle of a crisis, Caputo told Heat Street over the phone, noting that the audio showed the hesitation in Rubio’s voice, and that he expected Rubio to take a few days to let the Orlando events sink in.
“Has the volume and force of his ‘no’ moved more to the ‘yes’ column? Yes, sure,” explained Caputo, describing the chances of a Rubio run as moving from less than 1% to “15% or maybe even 25%,” but still doubting he would get back in the race.
Caputo noted that Rubio has “little incentive to say ‘hell no’” and shut the door to running again, because of the benefits from the speculation and increasing demand for him to run again, both in terms of power and influence in the Senate, and financially, as he is fielding offers for post-Senate private sector jobs.
Caputo also interviewed Hewitt after the show. Hewitt described Rubio as “obviously and genuinely torn,” and told Caputo that he hoped Rubio ran for reelection because “he has unique abilities to offer,” including “a tremendous grasp, almost unique grasp on the metastasizing crisis of ISIS.”
A senior Rubio adviser who spoke to Heat Street on condition of anonymity said that the media was getting a bit ahead of itself with the speculation, and characterized the Hewitt interview as less about Rubio reconsidering running for reelection than a sincere, heartfelt reaction to having been at the scene of America’s worst terrorist attack since 9/11.
“It’s still unlikely that he runs,” continued the Rubio adviser, “but if anything would sway him, it wouldn’t be the lobbyists and consultants, it would be the scene he witnessed yesterday, and the thought of what, if anything, he can do as a member [of the Intelligence and Foreign Relations Committees] to make a difference so it doesn’t happen again.”
Republican strategist Rick Wilson, who has advised Rubio and is currently advising a Super PAC supporting Lopez-Cantera, told Heat Street that the endless chatter about Rubio running has been frustrating for all the Republican Senate candidates.
Marco Rubio will run for his Senate seat again. Politically, he has nowhere else to go. Been saying it for months. https://t.co/lSl4jIeOxT
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) June 13, 2016
Wilson, along with other sources close to Lopez-Cantera, described the Rubio issue as something that is coming up on virtually every donor call during recent weeks, despite Rubio’s personal cheerleading for Lopez-Cantera.
A bright spot for Lopez-Cantera: while the speculation about Rubio’s next move may have put a pause button on Lopez-Cantera’s fundraising, it seems likely to have been even worse for everyone else.
Rep. David Jolly is fending off reports that he will drop out to face former Gov. Charlie Crist for reelection to his Congressional seat, although, to be fair, that’s due in no small part to his odd decision to declare war on Congressional fundraising practices in the middle of his first statewide race. And Rep. Ron DeSantis, Carlos Beruff, and Todd Wilcox are having trouble getting any media attention at all except being asked what they will do if Rubio wants back in the race.
Wilson said that he was “in a weird spot,” as someone who was close to both Rubio and Lopez-Cantera, and predicted that “the emotion of these past couple days will pass soon, everyone will take a deep breath, and proceed” as expected, with Rubio continuing to support Lopez-Cantera’s bid for his seat.
But Rubio’s conflicted feelings were understandable, said Wilson. “I think Marco is at a point where he can’t not think about the fact that one of the things he’s been so good at is his work on the [Intelligence and Foreign Relations Committees].”
“On the other hand,” Wilson continued, Rubio had just finished a tough presidential campaign, “he’s tired of the rat race, and tired of being asked about Donald Trump every day.”
“While there would be enthusiasm for him, it’s a big lift,” to get back in the race, said Wilson.
Heat Street also reached out to Lopez-Cantera, who is in Orlando to assist with the efforts to support the victims of Sunday’s attack. He declined to discuss political matters and said that he just wanted to “do my job” and concentrate on what he could do to help those affected.
Lopez-Cantera, along with the governor’s office, has been helping coordinate between the local and federal authorities and getting information and resources to victims and their families. Like Rubio, it was obvious that the experience of being on the scene after such a devastating tragedy had deeply affected him.
Other sources close to Lopez-Cantera confirmed that he was focused on Orlando and was not planning to discuss the race with Rubio or make any decisions for the next few days. None of Heat Street’s sources connected to Lopez-Cantera’s campaign or Super PAC indicated there was any discussion of dropping out of the race, and described a very busy campaign schedule coming up over the next few weeks.
The deadline to file for the Florida Senate seat is June 24. Perhaps not coincidentally, Lopez-Cantera has a fundraiser scheduled that very evening which Rubio is scheduled to headline. Sources close to the campaign told Heat Street that before Orlando, Rubio had been calling donors personally to urge them to attend the June 24th fundraiser, and throw their financial support behind Lopez-Cantera.
Transcript, courtesy of the Hugh Hewitt Show:
Hugh Hewitt: Does this horror change in any way your resolve not to seek reelection, Senator?
Marco Rubio: You know, I haven’t even given it thought in that perspective other than to say that I’ve been deeply impacted by it, and I think when it visits your home state, and it impacts a community you know well, it really gives you pause to think a little bit about, you know, your service to your country and where you can be most useful to your country. We live in a very dramatic moment in our history. I think we’re at a tipping point here moving into the next election. Irrespective of who the next president is, I think we’re going to face some real foreign policy challenges, given some of the things both of the candidates have outlined. So you know, obviously I haven’t thought about it from a political perspective, but it most certainly has impacted my thinking in general about a lot of things.
HH: Now that I ask, will you at least consider it again?
MR: Well, obviously I have a couple of things in play. It’s not part of our plan as a family. And certainly wasn’t part of, I have a friend of mine who is running for the U.S. Senate. So I want to be fair, Hugh. I haven’t thought about it in that context. I really don’t want to link the two things right now, because I don’t want politics to intrude in all of this…
HH: I understand, but…
MR: But suffice it to say that…
HH: …there are people who know this issue. You are one of them.
MR: Yeah.
HH: And…
MR: Well, as I said, my family and I will be praying about all this, and we’ll see what I need to do next with my life in regards to how I can best serve.
HH: Senator Rubio, I appreciate that. I hope it leads you to stay in the United States Senate. Very few people know this issue as you do, and I hope your service extends.
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