Photo by Gage Skidmore via Flickr
"I'll be a private citizen in January," Florida's senator told reporters in March.
But his party and obvious GOP nominee Donald Trump, who Rubio once called a "con man," don't want him to go just yet. CNN reports Sen. John Cornyn has publicly Rubio to run, and at a closed-door lunch, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell talked about his concerns with the current pool of Republican candidates in the race for Florida's Senate seat.
"[McConnell] asked who in the room wanted Rubio to run for re-election and virtually everyone raised their hands," according to CNN. "McConnell urged his colleagues to encourage Rubio to change his mind, according to sources familiar with the session."
Even Trump weighed in on a Rubio run on Twitter.
Poll data shows that @marcorubio does by far the best in holding onto his Senate seat in Florida. Important to keep the MAJORITY. Run Marco!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 27, 2016
The current Republican candidates include: U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis, who started a "Defeat the Jihad" speaking tour; Todd Wilcox, an Orlando defense contractor who called Social Security a Ponzi scheme; U.S. Rep. David Jolly, who's currently being blasted by his party for refusing to support another investigation into Planned Parenthood; Florida Lt. Gov. Carlos López-Cantera, who is friends with Rubio and that's about it; and developer Carlos Beruff, who's managed to offend a lot of people in the short time he's been in the race and called President Obama an "animal."
A recent poll from Quinnipiac shows those candidates trailing Democratic candidate U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, who's in a bitter and tight contest with U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson for the nomination. With that in mind, it's easy to see why the GOP is practically begging for Rubio to stay. He has until June 24 to file for a spot in the race.
