After vowing he was done with the Senate and Washington in general, Sen. Marco Rubio decided last week that he would run for reelection after all. But his entry into the race hasn’t changed the seat’s toss-up status, according to analysts. In other words, he’s no shoo-in.
“Rubio’s decision now puts him in the category with some of his colleagues,” said Nathan Gonzales, editor and publisher of the Rothenberg & Gonzales Political Report, reports The Washington Times. “He’s a senator running for re-election in a very competitive state. I don’t think he can take the primary for granted, and if he wins the primary, then he’s going to have a tough general election with Donald Trump at the top of the ticket.”
Wall Street Journal columnist and former Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan agrees—but mostly because Rubio has been an outspoken Trump critic.
“Rubio himself is interesting to me in that he appears to have been pressed to run again for the Senate,” she said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” Sunday. “The assumption is, he'll win the seat. But I look from far away and think, if he is going to be a real Trump critic and separate himself deeply from Trump for reasons of conscience or whatever, fine. Trump won Florida and beat Marco Rubio by about 20 points in -- in the primaries. And I just think Rubio may be putting himself in a difficult place. I'm not sure it's a safe seat if he's running for it.”