Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio won’t run for president in 2020, Rubio told local radio station News Radio 970 WFLA Wednesday.
“If I wanted to run for something else, I wouldn’t have run for Senate,” Rubio said. “My opponent keeps saying I’m gonna run for president. If I wanted to run for president in four years, I would have just stayed out of this race and started running on November the 9, which a lot of other people are going to do.”
“I wouldn’t have run for re-election at the last minute in the toughest swing state in the country, in a year as uncertain as this one.”
Democratic Rep. Patrick Murphy attacked Rubio during the Florida Senate debate Monday evening, asserting that Rubio will only serve as senator if there are no other options available. Rubio responded by saying that he would not run as president in 2020, “God willing.”
“As far as my commitment to the office … that’s proven by my record of achievement,” Rubio said.
“And you compare that to Patrick Murphy, who is not some outsider coming into politics,” Rubio continued. “He’s been a congressman for four years. He has never had a single bill — not one — signed into law by the president or even passed out of the full House, not to mention the Senate as well.”
Rubio was criticized by Trump and others during the Republican primary for campaigning while he was supposed to be in Washington, D.C. voting on bills.
Rubio missed 234 out of 1,633 roll call votes, the majority of which happened during his run for president in the 2016 electoral season. The 14.3 percent of votes Rubio skipped is much higher than the 1.7 percent lifetime average of senator voting records, according to Govtrack.
Rubio also announced that he wouldn’t run for re-election after his defeat on the presidential stage, but announced his bid for the Senate in June.
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