[Rep. Jeff] Miller to Announce Bid for Rubio’s Senate Seat

Roll Call ^ | 06/25/2015 | Emily Cahn

[GIdget2004]

Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., will run for the Sunshine State’s open Senate seat, according to a source with knowledge of Miller’s plans. A second source said the announcement could come next week.

Miller will be the third Republican to officially enter the contest to replace Sen. Marco Rubio, who is vacating the competitive seat to run for president. Miller will be the third member of Congress in the race.

Florida’s Senate race is a top Democratic target as the party looks to net the five seats necessary to ensure Senate control. President Barack Obama carried the state twice.

On the Republican side, Rep. Ron DeSantis announced a bid earlier this year. Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez Cantera is also running.

On the Democratic side, Rep. Patrick Murphy is running with the support of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. But liberal rabble-rouser Alan Grayson is also weighing a run.

[StoneWall Brigade]

Is this guy Regan Conservative?

[US Navy Vet]

Miller was an executive assistant to Democratic state Agriculture Commissioner Doyle Conner from 1984 to 1988. He was a Democrat until he switched parties in 1997.[4]

Miller was a member of the Florida House of Representatives from 1998 to 2001.[2] During his three years there, he was a member of the committees on Utilities & Telecommunications, Congressional Redistricting, Council for Ready Infrastructure, and Rules, Ethics & Elections. During his second term in the state house, Miller was chairman of the Utilities of Telecommunications Committee. He also oversaw a board in charge of community development in Escambia County
Yet ANOTHER RE-TREAD POS!

[GraceG]

Is this guy Regan Conservative?

If I lived in Florida I would take any inanimate object over Rubio’s Back Stabbing...

[SunkenCiv]

On the Republican side, Rep. Ron DeSantis announced a bid earlier this year. Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez Cantera is also running.

On the Democratic side, Rep. Patrick Murphy is running with the support of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. But liberal rabble-rouser Alan Grayson is also weighing a run.

[Impy]

He’s pretty good AFAIK. I’m pretty sure some people were calling him a RINO a while back over something, I don’t remember what (CROmnibus?), but almost everyone is called RINO by somebody at some point. He did comment that Republicans shouldn’t have politicized the VA scandal, which is a foolish attitude IMO. He’s popular with the military.

But DeSantis is the more conservative choice, methinks. I’d be fine with either.

I’ve heard Lopez-Cantera (who is NOT officially running yet but seems likely to do so) spoken of with skepticism on these boards, perhaps fairly, perhaps not.

[AuH2ORepublican]

Jeff Miller isn't bad, but Ron DeSantis is a rock star. DeSantis probably is the most conservative member of Congress from Florida, and he isn't so rough around the edges that he'd scare subarbanites into voting for the "moderate" and "pro-business" Democrat Patrick Murphy.

Given that the less conservative Carlos López-Cantera appears likely to run, I hope that Miller's candidacy doesn't take conservative Panhandle votes away from DeSantis in the primary so as to allow López-Cantera to win with a plurality (FL stupidly got rid of its run-offs years ago).

As for Miller's House seat, it is one of the most conservative and Republican in the nation, and the winner will be decided in the GOP primary. Let me be the first to tour state Representative Mike Hill of Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties as Miller's replacement. Mike Hill's House of Representatives webpage

Prior to his election to the state House in 2013 (where he has compiled an impeccably conservative voting record: see his key votes here), Mike Hill was the president of the Northwest Florida Tea Party; he also served in the Air Force for a decade (after graduating from the Air Force Academy), got an MBA, has worked in insurance for a couple of decades and has served on the board of several Panhandle-area non-profits. So Mike Hill has the perfect résumé for that district, and has proven his conservative bona fides through his deeds, not just his words. I hope that Mike Hill runs.

[AuH2ORepublican]

Oops, sorry about all that red type in the prior post. I have no idea how that happened.

[Clintonfatigued]

I’m with Auh2oRepublican, throw your support behind Mike Hill!

[Impy]

Jeff Miller is OUT, not running for the Senate.

http://www.pnj.com/story/news/politics/elections/2015/07/30/rep-jeff-miller-seat-senate-seat/30884909/

[fieldmarshaldj]

I’m presuming Miller will run for reelection. Another Republican just announced the other day for the seat and may have jumped the gun.

[Impy]

Yeah, he is

"I have made the determination that I can't win a Senate race can best serve veterans as Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs and the member from the First District of Florida. I have decided to forgo my candidacy for the U.S. Senate in 2016 and instead continue my efforts to reform the toxic culture within the VA."

Smart move for him and helpful to DeSantis' candidacy.

[AuH2ORepublican]

This just in: Republican Congressman Jeff Miller (FL-01) has announced that he will not seek reelection in his safely GOP Florida Panhandle CD. As I did last year when Miller announced that he would seek the U.S. Senate seat instead (although he later changed his mind), I publicly tout state Representative Mike Hill of Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties as Miller’s replacement. My post setting forth Mike Hill’s qualifications and explaining why he would be an ideal replacement for Jeff Miller may be found in the post to which I am replying, which also may be found by clicking here:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3304080/posts?page=7#7

I hope that Mike Hill runs.

[Clintonfatigued]

Well, the conservative grass roots needs to rally around Mike Hill if he decides to run. Hopefully the GOPE will stay out of it and let Hill win.