Conservation group takes Marco Rubio to task, calls him ‘wrong for Florida’

Shortly after Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio announced he would run for re-election, the environmentalist group League of Conservation Voters took him to task for his positions on the environment and said he was “wrong for Florida.”

“Marco Rubio’s failed run for president laid bare his true colors,” the group said in a Wednesday email. “Rubio is dangerously out of step with Floridians and has taken every opportunity to advocate for the big polluters that have contributed over $700,000 to his campaign.”

In addition to calling out his campaign donors, LCV took umbrage with Rubio denying man-made climate change, his votes against certain wind and solar initiatives in the U.S. Senate and his opposition to the Paris Climate Agreement, a greenhouse gas reduction plan the U.S. and dozens of other countries signed onto earlier this year.

“With a lifetime LCV score of 6 percent, Marco Rubio’s record and positions on a whole host of environmental issues are clear evidence that he is wrong for Florida, wrong for the Senate and wrong for our country,” the group said.

Rubio announced he would run for re-election Wednesday, reversing the pledge he made at the end of his presidential campaign that he would return to private life when his term was up.

Since the announcement, the first-term U.S. Senator picked up support from the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the Republican Party of Florida and even his former rival, Texas U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz.

The hours after the Miami Republican’s announcement also brought harsh criticism from U.S. Reps. Patrick Murphy and Alan Grayson, Democrats who are running for his seat, and a wave of attack ads from pro-choice group NARAL Pro-Choice America.