Jenna Buzzacco-Foerster
Carlos Lopez-Cantera will not file to run for U.S. Senate if Marco Rubio decides to run for re-election.
In an email to supporters Wednesday, Lopez-Cantera said he will get out of the race if Rubio, his longtime friend, were to decide to run for re-election.
“I have asked Sen. Marco Rubio to reconsider his decision and enter the Senate race. The decision is his and his alone to make,” said Lopez-Cantera in his email. “As friends for 20 years, this race is so much bigger than the two of us, and, as you have heard me say on the trail, this race isn’t about an individual, this race is about Florida and the future of our country.”
On Wednesday, Marc Caputo with POLITICO Florida first reported Lopez-Cantera encouraged Rubio to reconsider his decision.
In an interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt earlier this week, Rubio appeared to crack the door open to the possibility of another run. He said the mass shooting in Orlando, which left 49 people dead and more than 50 people injured, gives him “pause to think a little bit about … your service to our country and then where you can be most useful to your country.”
Rubio has also pointed to Lopez-Cantera and his decision to run as a reason for why he wasn’t considering jumping back into the race.
In his message to supporters Wednesday, Lopez-Cantera said he is “still in this race and nothing has changed.”
“However,” he continued, “if Marco decides to enter this race, I will not be filing the paperwork to run for the U.S. Senate.”
According to the Washington Post, Rubio told reporters he was rethinking his decision.
Rubio has until noon on June 24 to qualify for the U.S. Senate race.
