After easy win, Rubio has bigger challenge to keep seat

Despite being trounced by Trump in Florida’s presidential primary earlier this year, Rubio was still the easy choice for most Southwest Florida Republicans on Tuesday.

Murphy won 59 percent of the vote in a Democratic primary that included liberal firebrand U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, political novice Pam Keith, a Miami labor attorney and Navy veteran, and two lesser established opponents.

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And Wasserman Schultz, the former Democratic National Committee chairwoman, was defending her seat against Tim Canova, a Bernie Sanders-backed law professor, in a primary colored by leaked e-mails revealing that DNC officials had worked against Sanders to favor Hillary Clinton in the presidential race.

“I voted for Marco only because I’ve been a longstanding supporter”, said Diane Martin-Johnson, 66.

Rubio has more name recognition than Murphy, though this year being an incumbent is not as helpful as it has been in other years.

Murphy says Rubio cares more about political ambition than voters and can’t even commit to serving all six years in the Senate if he wins, and Rubio says Murphy is a privileged son of a wealthy man who has lied about his education, work experience and starting a small business.

Rubio will face off against Rep. Patrick Murphy in the November election. It practically derailed his 2008 presidential candidacy. RealClearPolitics shows Rubio will start his campaign with a six-point edge over Murphy. “I’ve got two words for you: I can”.

In front of a packed crowd in Palm Beach Gardens, he rallied his supporters in what’s expected to be a close U.S. Senate Race.

Without backing from national Republicans and their donor networks, Beruff was forced to spend $8 million of his own money to forge a campaign in a state where TV ads are a necessity. Instead he was “spending a much-deserved day off with his wife, Cindy, at their home in Sedona”, his campaign said. (Rubio has since said he’ll support Trump.) Then there’s the matter of his Senate voting record, one of the worst in Congress over 2015, and that an editorial in one of Florida’s largest newspapers called on Rubio to step down.

“If Donald Trump is at the top of the ticket, here in Arizona, with over 30 percent of the vote being the Hispanic vote, no doubt that this may be the race of my life”, McCain said at a fund-raising event in May. One of the key reasons for his change of course, he said, was to help Republican retain the majority in the U.S. Senate to assure the GOP has greater influence in who will be appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

On the Democratic side, the battle between Grayson and Murphy looked like it would turn into a proxy fight between progressive and centrist Democrats.

But for Senate Republicans, at least the Florida Senate race is still a contest thanks to Rubio. Murphy won 59-18 percent with 99 percent in. Debbie Wasserman Schultz turned back a strong primary challenge and will likely be re-elected to a seventh term in Congress. Republicans are defending 24 seats in the 2016 election, compared to 10 Democratic seats that go before voters.