Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said Monday that the shooting in Orlando Sunday morning, which left 50 dead including the shooter, hasn’t changed his mind yet on whether to jump in and run for the Senate.
Radio host Hugh Hewitt pushed Rubio several times to answer whether he would reconsider his decision not to run, and while Rubio didn’t slam the door shut on the idea, he indicated that he hasn’t tried to connect the shooting to his own political future.
“Does this horror in any way change your plans not to seek re-election, senator?” Hewitt asked Rubio.
“Oh, you know um … 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 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,” Rubio said. “I think we’re going to face some real foreign policy challenges given some of the things both of the candidates have outlined. So 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.”
When asked again, Rubio said it’s not part of his family’s plan for him to run.
“Obviously, I have a couple of things in play. It’s not part of our plan as a family. And it certainly wasn’t part of our … I have a friend of mine who’s running for the U.S. Senate,” Rubio said, referring to Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera. “I want to be fair, Hugh, I haven’t thought about it in that context. I don’t want to link the two things right now because I don’t want politics to intrude on all of this.”
“My family and I will be praying about all of this and we’ll see what I need to do next with my life with regards to how I can best serve.”
Rubio has consistently declined overtures to seek re-election to his Senate seat after dropping his bid for the Republican nomination in March after losing the Florida primary to Donald Trump, having repeated that he plans to become a citizen in January. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has been a vocal proponent of him running again for his seat.
Lopez-Cantera is one of five Republicans seeking to replace Rubio, along with Reps. David Jolly and Ron DeSantis, businessmen Carlos Beruff and Todd Wilcox. However, that list might shrink as Jolly continues to look at dropping his bid and running against former Gov. Charlie Crist in the 13th Congressional district. Jolly has said that he would drop out of the senate contest if Rubio decided to run for re-election. The filing deadline is June 24.
