Not that we didn't expect it, but weird things are happening in the wake of U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio's announcement that he is running for President of 'Murica.
Rubio said he'd leave his seat to run for president in 2016 (giving him plenty of time to run for governor in 2018 or something if/when he doesn't win). That means we're gonna need a new Senator. The Democrats already have a candidate for the seat, West Palm Beach-area Congressman Patrick Murphy, and might have another if Central Florida Congressman Alan Grayson jumps in.
On the GOP side, with state CFO Jeff Atwater and Attorney General Pam Bondi saying they're not into it, things are looking a little hazy as far as the candidate field goes. (We can't tell you the sheer joy we would derive from a Donald Trump run for this instead of president. Someone tell him to run.)
The latest we're hearing is that Pinellas County's own David Jolly, whose district encompasses most of the county, may be considering a run. The notion was first brought to our attention in a thoughtful post written by Florida Politics' Mitch Perry. Then, Tampa Bay Times political editor Adam Smith asked Jolly about a possible run.
Jolly, who recently proposed to girlfriend Laura Donahoe, said he'd think about about it, but first he has a summer wedding to plan. (Seriously, how insane would it be to run a Senate campaign while trying to plan a wedding? The thought of having to do that will replace the zombie hordes in our nightmares.)
Here's what he said to Smith:
"As I listen to supporters and those who are encouraging me to look at the senate race I want to do two things — one, I want to make sure I attend to the wedding matters and our engagement, and, two, to allow for sufficient time to made the decision that's right, first for Laura and me and then ultimately for Pinellas County," Jolly said, the afternoon after Sen. Rubio announced his candidacy for president.
"My absolute commitment is to Pinellas County….Even as I'm listening to folks about the Senate race, every bit of my consideration is being done through the lens of what this means for Pinellas County."
Fair enough. But if he waits too long he may have a different nightmarish scenario on his hands: a primary.
Names of other potential GOP contenders for Rubio's seat are buzzing by. There's Lieutenant Governor Carlos Lopez-Cantera, a handful of Congressmen, like Sarasota's Vern Buchanan, and probably a state lawmaker or two. The one who appears the most serious about thinking about maybe announcing a run is Congressman Ron DeSantis of Ponte Vedra Beach (yeah, we don't really know who he is, either).
He seems to have some support. Here's a statement from Tea Party Express Executive Director Taylor Budowich:
"When we first endorsed Ron DeSantis for Congress in 2012, it was because he promised to challenge the status quo with bold, conservative leadership. He has done just that. Senator Rubio will be greatly missed, but a DeSantis candidacy would give Tea Partiers throughout Florida a competitive, conservative choice to replace him. Not only is DeSantis solid on the key economic issues, he also is a hard-working candidate who can be elected statewide in Florida. We are excited and encouraged by this exciting development."
Jolly, meanwhile, isn't exactly a tea party favorite. Last year, he surprised a few people when he said he didn't have a problem with gay marriage, which he never said he opposed in the first place. He voted against the Ryan budget during his first few weeks in office. He voted to fund the Department of Homeland Security despite things in its budget he didn't like (namely money to help implement President Obama's executive orders on immigration).
He does have kind of an edge in the real (fine, post-primary) world, though. After all, he beat Democrat Alex Sink in the March 2014 special election to fill the Congressional seat of his former mentor, U.S. Rep. C.W. Bill Young, who died in office.
And it's not just that he won.
He won in a nationally watched, supposedly bellwether special election against an opponent who had extensive name recognition and stellar fundraising capacity. He was even able to unite Pinellas Republicans after a bitter primary fight against State Rep. Kathleen Peters (R-South Pasadena) and pilot Mark Bircher. His district, Florida's 13th, is a swing district thought to mirror the state as well as the nation.
So maybe he has a shot.
On the other hand, unlike many politicians, he seems to actually like doing his job more than campaigning, and doesn't seem like the kind of lawmaker who would miss an important vote because he was feigning interest in a possum toss somewhere on the Panhandle, which is actually why it's kind of surprising he's considering a run for the Senate just months into his first full term.
If he does go for it, that makes things a tad easier for Eric Lynn, the Democrat challenging him in 2016 for his Congressional seat, we reckon, unless someone from Pinellas County's deep bench of Republican candidates steps in; maybe a Latvala or something — that'd be fun.
This article appears in Apr 9-15, 2015.