After his failed presidential campaign, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., is not running for re-election, he doesn’t plan on running for governor of Florida in 2018, and he does not want to be Donald Trump’s pick for vice president. But Rubio said it’s a “safe assumption” that he will run for public office again at some point in the future.
“If there’s an opportunity to serve again in a way I’m passionate about, then, yeah,” Rubio said in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper that aired Sunday on “State of the Union.”
Rubio’s answer is undoubtedly a disappointment to many Republicans in Florida and Washington who want him to run for his Senate seat this fall. A field of five or so Republicans vying to replace Rubio is shaping up as weaker than expected, and Republicans think that if Rubio were in the race, it would clear the field and change the contest from a toss-up to Republican-leaning.
There are lots of reasons Rubio may not want to run for Senate again. But he indicated Sunday that one of the main ones is that Lt. Gov. Carlos López-Cantera, a good friend, is already in it. Their friendship dates to their days working on Bob Dole’s 1996 presidential campaign.
If López-Cantera weren’t in the race, Rubio said Sunday, “maybe” he’d consider running for the Senate, adding that a Washington Post October article declaring that he hates being a U.S. senator is not true. “I don’t hate my job; it’s one of the greatest blessings,” he said.
But Rubio doesn’t want to run for office unless he really likes the job. That’s why he has no plans to run for governor in 2018 (Florida’s Republican Gov. Rick Scott is term-limited) and why he doesn’t want to be Trump’s running mate.
“I don’t think you run for positions because they’re available,” he told Tapper. “You run for positions because you’re passionate about what you can contribute.”
One job Rubio would like? National Football League commissioner, as he joked on the campaign trail: “Who wouldn’t want that job?” he said Sunday.
The Washington Post
![MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s once most powerful drug lord, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán is claiming he cannot get phone calls or visits in the maximum security U.S. prison where he is serving a life sentence. Guzmán, who in the past was able to break out of Mexican prisons seemingly at will, wrote a letter […]](https://www.dailypress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mexico_Drug_Lord_30442.jpg?w=525 "MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s once most powerful drug lord, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán is claiming he cannot get phone calls or visits in the maximum security U.S. prison where he is serving a life sentence. Guzmán, who in the past was able to break out of Mexican prisons seemingly at will, wrote a letter […]")
