Amid talk of a potential primary challenge from Ivanka Trump, Marco Rubio messages ‘beyond partisan divides’
Marco Rubio. Image via AP.

rubio ap
The Senator released a 26-page report touting his record.

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio highlighted his record of legislative accomplishments in a 26-page PDF released Wednesday by his Senate office.

Fighting for Florida: Mid-term Update” spotlights a Senator who, no matter what his campaign or conservative media rhetoric might say, is among the most effective legislators in Washington, according to an analysis from GovTrack.org.

“Our work is cut out for us. Reversing course will take time, and it will require creativity that spans beyond the typical partisan divides in Washington,” Rubio wrote in the introduction to the document, one of a few phrasings that struck an aspirational tone.

“Last year was tough – of that there is no doubt. But I remain confident brighter days are ahead for our nation and that our active efforts as an office and people will bring us closer to that horizon. ‘With this faith,’ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said in his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, ‘we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood,'” Rubio wrote.

The Senator also addressed the incident at the U.S. Capitol last month, decrying the supporters of former President Donald Trump as “an anti-American mob [that] stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021.”

The doc stresses bipartisan accomplishments, not the least of which was his Paycheck Protection Program. And it devotes a lot of ink to the Senator’s constituent services outreach. But its ultimate purpose may be making a case for a Rubio reelection that appears much trickier than the 2016 race against Democrat Patrick Murphy.

The Miami Republican, who famously made an 11th hour reentry into the 2016 Senate primary after leaving the Presidential race after a defeat in Florida, has attempted to stress his seriousness about remaining in the chamber.

“I’ll tell you this: When you’re running for reelection in the Senate, you’re signing a six-year contract, which means that for the next six years of your life, you’re committing to doing this job,” Rubio told radio host Hugh Hewitt this month. “Ultimately, it’s a job that you really have to have your heart and soul into.”

At the same time, he stresses that he hasn’t “made a decision yet” about 2024.

Ultimately, decisions for Rubio may come sooner than that, including a primary challenge unlike the one he faced five years ago from Carlos Beruff.

Talk abounds of Ivanka Trump challenging the second-term Senator next year. He claims not to be worried, saying that when the campaign comes, his side “will have a great story to tell.”

“All of us are elected. Every single one of us can be primaried,” Rubio said. “None of us are entitled to run unopposed. People have the right to run against you.”

Will a PDF, even a 26-pager, make a difference if Trump comes after Rubio? That answer may be answered between now and August 2022.

Meanwhile, if a statement released Wednesday by the former President means anything, he’s watching the field.

“When necessary and appropriate, I will back primary rivals who espouse Making America Great Again and our policy of America First,” Trump said via his Save America PAC.

 

Rubio Pamphlet by Janelle Irwin Taylor on Scribd

A.G. Gancarski

A.G. Gancarski has written for FloridaPolitics.com since 2014. He is based in Northeast Florida. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter: @AGGancarski


6 comments

  • Nancy Pants

    February 17, 2021 at 1:20 pm

    LOL. Rubio, sweetie, you enabled Trump, supporting his every corrupt whim throughout the 4 years of his disastrous term in office. You not only drank the Kool-Aid–but you happily helped pass it around.

    And now you’re staring at a very likely primary challenge from Ivanka–or maybe even a primary challenge from Trump himself? Either family member is more than capable of defeating you and, I think its clear, you know it.

    Trump beat Rubio like an old rug statewide in 2016. Its not hard to imagine the Trump machine doing the same thing to Rubio in 2022.

    Marco Rubio, you’ve always tried to be clever, working feverishly to consistently have it both ways. Remember when you supported Biden/Harris’ campaign bus being dangerously stalked in Texas?

    How ironic and ruefully appropriate that a family you fully submitted to in slave-like fashion is now preparing a campaign to unseat you.

  • James Robert Miles

    February 17, 2021 at 1:47 pm

    That’s Republican loyalty for you as in no loyalty at all! I can’t think of a more deserving SOB! A fly swatter would do better than Rubio!!

  • DisplacedCTYankee

    February 17, 2021 at 3:24 pm

    Yes, of course, if Dr MLK had not been killed by a white supremacist with a gun he would have fully supported Marco Rubio.

    I give up. All is lost.

  • Scott

    February 18, 2021 at 1:41 am

    Rubio,
    If you push the Red Flag law into play in Florida. I’ll run against you. Sir I read up on you, before voting. Now I have buyers remorse. Attacking 2nd amendment rights. Say,” it’s ok to call on your spouse, neighbor, neighbors spouse, just because you don’t like them or are angry at them.” Don’t worry sir, we will take your soon to be ex wife’s handgun be cause she might defend herself. Sir you and Rick Scott need to wake up. Look at the money it has cost innocent victims in other states due to red laws. Not to mention all the extra policing from them. Sir you are about to give every angry individual a free calling card for the police. If I see this go to the house, we will be building a affidavit to remove you from office. I’m retired and full time here in Florida. I will make it my mission to see you removed and to never serve again. People who are in a bad way with firearms can have the police called on them day or night. No need to give people a reason to start more trouble. Wow just wow. Are you sure you are not a liberal? Hiding as a Republican.

  • Sonja Fitch

    February 18, 2021 at 4:34 am

    Delusional Duffus is is a damn joke. Duffus Desantis is willingly slaughtering Floridians 😝. Vote Democrat up and down ballot for the elections in 2022.

  • Joey

    February 18, 2021 at 3:25 pm

    I dont like Ivanka but I will take Ivanka over this Rubio Puppet.

Comments are closed.


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