Coveted Marco Rubio Senate seat makes for mad primaries

Coveted Marco Rubio Senate seat makes for mad primaries
  • Sumo

Florida legislators jump at the chance
to become Florida’s next U.S. Senator

Wow. Just look at the legislators lunging for the coveted open Senate election2016seat left by Marco Rubio‘s White House ambition. The list 15 months out already makes for two delicious 2016 primaries in what is already a year full of races to watch.

No matter what aisle you sit on — blue or red — this is going to be a fun ride.

Congressman Patrick Murphy was the first to jump into the ring in March, even before Rubio announced he would run for president. And he hasn’t stopped, since then, churning out the press releases and the statements and useless online petitions against a raise for Congress and Citizens United.

Murphy is already the obvious Democratic front runner — and, yes, you can say that this far out, though Ladra reserves the right to change her mind — but that doesn’t mean the primary won’t be exciting anyway. Or entertaining, at the very least. That’s because his likely chief opponent, Congressman Alan Grayson of Orlando, is a left-of-center Dem bomb dropper with recent, riveting headlines that promise to echo throughout the year alanpatrickand the fundraising ability of a national ultra liberal icon with a coast-to-coast base.

I mean, not only is he seeking an annulment from his wife of 24 years, who he’s accused of bigamy in a bitter divorce dispute, but his girlfriend is apparently meeting with possible supporters to run for Grayson’s U.S. House seat if he runs for Senate.

And you thought this kinda thing only happened in the 305!

Over on the red side, we have an interesting and possibly closer race brewing in the GOP primary between Republican Congressman Ron DeSantis, who declared his intention to run this week, and Lt. Gov. and Miami-boy-done-good Carlos “C-Lo” Lopez-Cantera, who hasn’t formally announced but is widely reported to be knee deep in consideration already. Especially with a super Pac reportedly in formation.

Read related story: Lopez-Cantera move could pave way to higher elected office

He has lots of reasons to go for it: How often do you get anRick Scott, Lopez-Cantera, Rubio open Senate seat? He doesn’t have to resign from his LG post and gets access to Gov. Rick Scott‘s fundraising machinery. Sure, the Guv said he is staying out of the primary but they work right next to each other. How out do you think he can stay?

And he has Marco Rubio’s support, whether it is expressed or not. The two friends (here they are expressing solidarity with Venezuelans and Scott in Doral) are allies who would be on the same ticket and that could generate some exciting joojoo for each.

But Lopez-Cantera also has reasons to wait it out for another opportunity: He is a young man with a young family he would hate to be away from, or have to move to D.C., and there are other more local seats he could run for after serving out his term as LG. And, even if he gets by August, he’d have to go against a Dem with Hillary Clinton on the top of the ticket in what many consider to be a blue year.

Still, Ladra can’t imagine C-Lo would pass up this opportunity. I think he’s all but told everyone, wink wink, nod, nod. He was probably just forced to come

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4 Responses to "Coveted Marco Rubio Senate seat makes for mad primaries"

  1. Democrats need a competitive primary. We haven’t had one since 2006. Last I checked – we need to build infrastructure and engage our voters around the state. Having a competitive primary will help engage ALL of our voters across the spectrum.

    I do not understand why our party leaders haven’t figured this out, and why they are getting involved in Democratic Primaries…

  2. I know Lopez-Cantera personally, and he is a good guy; but Congressman Ron DeSantis wants the spot & DeSantis has a stellar voting record in Washington. BOTH Heritage Action AND Conservative Review grade DeSantis with a perfect A, because he is truly conservative, so he has my support & my vote. Pray Lopez-Cantera sits this one out & gets ready to jump in the governor’s race, when Rick Scott leaves office. Lopez-Cantera will be seasoned in the governor’s role & ready to take on the office. If Lopez-Cantera runs for Florida governor instead of senator, he will have my help and support.

  3. Patrick Murphy wins the race on the basis of a) fundraising (his family can self-fund both a primary and a general), b) his centrist view are more in line with the average voter in Florida, and c) he’s charismatic to a fault.

    DeSantis will raise more money than Lopez-Cantera and will win the primary based on his ability to communicate. Lopez-Cantera is not a known entity anywhere in Florida, and is mostly disliked by those who do know him. Someone like Jolly can surprise them both.

    But in the end, Murphy wins the seat.

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