Florida Senator Marco Rubio (R) is up for reelection in 2022, and while Florida Democrats hope to supplant the senior senator with the help from their bottom-feeding Lincoln Project amigos, who will step up to challenge Rubio in the upcoming mid-term election, another Socialist Democrat?
Defeating Rubio will be a heavy lift for any Democrat, and considering how badly Florida Democrats lost in 2020 with their embrace of Progressive Socialism, it will be interesting to see who puts their political career at risk to run against Rubio.
Whoever runs against Rubio will have to bring a lot to the table in order to persuade Florida voters that they are not in lock-step with the failing Democratic Socialism project started by Senator Bernie Sanders in 2016.
Rep. Stephanie Murphy
The first person that could challenge Rubio is Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D) of Orlando.
Rep. Murphy, a House Blue Dog Democrat, is definitely looking at the race, even though she told The Floridian that she was focused on doing her job as a member of the House of Representatives.
Even though she is perceived to be ‘moderate’ and has a great family story to tell, her voting record tells the greater story about how her potential senatorial candidacy could be dead on arrival.
Murphy has voted 90% of the time with self-described Socialist Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Rep. Val Demings
The Orlando Chief of Police is one tough cookie.
Rep. Demings spearheaded the impeachment of President Donald Trump in 2020, and like Murphy, also votes with Ocasio-Cortez and the “Squad” in the House of Representatives. Demings's voting record is worse than Murphy’s. Demings has voted alongside Ocasio-Cortez 96% of the time.
Rep. Ted Deutch
Rep. Deutch has been thinking about running for the senate for quite some time but is said to be waiting to see if Rubio decides not to run for reelection.
Deutch would get crushed in a statewide race. Crushed. Deutch, like Demings, has also voted alongside AOC 96% of the time.
The biggest obstacle these three Democrats, or anyone looking to challenge Rubio will face is President Trump.
The Republican Party is now the party of Trump, so whoever the president supports in future elections, voters will support his choice.
Trump destroyed Democrats statewide in Florida this past year, and considering how faithful his supporters still are, Rubio could be in better shape than anyone thought.
Well, Rubio must first shore up the Trump base. Many still remember how he tangled with Trump during the 2016 Republican presidential primary race, and have dismissed him as a candidate they would support in future elections.
But even though Trump and Rubio bumped heads in 2016, once Rubio ran for his senate seat and won, the two men put their differences aside built a productive relationship in the Senate, a relationship that has only benefitted Rubio’s stature in that chamber of Congress.
The problems that Democrats like Deutch, Murphy, and Demings will face in trying to defeat Rubio are pretty clear.
Trump and Socialism.
