Marc Caputo reports at Politico that Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz is eyeing a seat in the Senate:
Driving Wasserman Schultz’s interest: the increasing likelihood that Sen. Marco Rubio will run for the White House and that he ultimately won’t seek reelection in 2016, Democratic insiders familiar with her thinking say. Her office wouldn’t discuss her interest in the Senate.
“Of course she’s considering it: Open Senate seats are pretty rare,” said Andrew Weinstein, a longtime supporter of the Weston congresswoman and a 2012 member of President Obama’s national finance team.
As DNC chair, Wasserman-Schultz is well known for her incendiary attacks on Republicans. She popularized the Democrats’ “war on women” campaign theme back in 2011. In 2014, she said Wisconsin governor Scott Walker “has given women the back of his hand. I know that is stark. I know that is direct. But that is reality…. What Republican tea party extremists like Scott Walker are doing is they are grabbing us by the hair and pulling us back. It is not going to happen on our watch.” There are few people Republicans would enjoy defeating more in a general election than the current DNC chair.
But Wasserman-Schultz has also made plenty of enemies within the Democratic party and could have a tough time winning the primary if she runs. Politico reported last September that she was in “a behind-the-scenes struggle with the White House, congressional Democrats and Washington insiders who have lost confidence in her as both a unifying leader and reliable party spokesperson at a time when they need her most.” According to the article, Wasserman Schultz “attempted to get the DNC to pay for her clothing at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte,” and she almost never speaks to the president:
Instead, the DNC chairwoman stakes out the president of the United States at the end of photo lines at events and fundraisers.
“You need another picture, Debbie?” Obama tends to say, according to people who’ve been there for the encounters.
