After cruising to victory in the midterm elections against Democrat opponent Rep. Val Demings, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is making a move that’s raising speculation about his 2024 plans.
The Republican senator is scheduled to release a 272-page book published by Broadside Books, a HarperCollins imprint.
Titled “Decades of Decadence,” the book has a release date of June 13, but the publisher offered no additional details about it.
Rubio previously published a book, “American Dreams,” in 2015 ahead of his bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016.
According to reports, the book may be more about laying the groundwork should the opportunity present itself.
Whether Rubio is interested in another presidential bid is a question in itself. Two GOP operatives indicated to The Hill that while he has not been full steam ahead on a 2024 bid, he would likely aim to be prepared in case a lane presented itself.
“It’s not just that if you try really hard and you’re the best candidate, you win,” Rubio told author David M. Drucker for his 2021 book, “In Trump’s Shadow,” about a possible 2024 campaign.
“I’m not a surfer, but I equate it a little bit to surfing: You can have the best surfboard in the world; you could be the best surfer in the world. If there’s not waves, or if you don’t time the waves, you’re not going to surf. You don’t control that part of it.”
However, a third GOP operative noted that Rubio has not made the kind of structural moves one would make in advance of a possible presidential bid.
“His problem is he doesn’t have a base. That was the problem in ’16, but it’s worse now. The base he had then was young suburban voters,” the Republican operative said, noting that other possible candidates, including Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R), now occupy part of that real estate.
“A lot of his supporters from 2016 are with other people now, and he hasn’t done anything over the last four years to build the type of organization you’d need to show you’re running for president,” the operative continued, adding that two of his main surrogates in 2016 — former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley and Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) — are floating presidential bids of their own. (The Hill)
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The news comes as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is also publishing a book, “The Courage to Be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Revival,” set to be released in February.
Other possible GOP contenders that have recently published books or who will be releasing them soon include former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, former Vice President Mike Pence, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC).
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