Free Republic

Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.) raised $1 million for her nascent Senate bid in the day after she announced that she plans to challenge Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) in 2022, according to a person familiar with the campaign’s fundraising. The $1 million figure is staggering for a candidate, especially in a year without any regularly scheduled federal elections. It’s an early sign of momentum for Demings, a rising Democratic star who is seen as the favorite in the budding primary to take on Rubio next year. But with 10 media markets and a population that exceeds that of New York state,...

In a new Politico/Morning Consult poll, respondents who plan to vote in the GOP primary were asked “If the 2024 Republican primary were being held today, for whom would you vote?” Trump more than tripled his nearest competitor with 48 percent to former Vice President Mike Pence’s 13 percent, while Pence nearly doubled third-place finisher Donald Trump Jr.’s 7 percent. Senators Mitt Romney and Ted Cruz were tied with former Amb. Nikki Haley at 4 percent. South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, who delivered the GOP response to President Joe Biden’s address to a joint session of Congress last month, drummed...

Demings received national attention last year when she served as an impeachment manager... Demings has served in the House since 2017, and her husband is currently the mayor of Orange County, Florida. Between 2007 and 2011, Demings worked as chief of Orlando’s police department.

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) is “out of her mind” for accusing Israel of committing “an act of terrorism” by carrying out airstrikes against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said Wednesday. The airstrikes came after Hamas and other Islamic terror groups launched hundreds of rockets into Israel, targeting cities including Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. “Israeli air strikes killing civilians in Gaza is an act of terrorism. Palestinians deserve protection. Unlike Israel, missile defense programs, such as Iron Dome, don’t exist to protect Palestinian civilians. It’s unconscionable to not condemn these attacks on the week of Eid,” Omar...

Rep. Charlie Crist (D-FL) formally announced his gubernatorial challenge against Gov. Ron DeSantis, whom many describe as a rising star in the Republican Party, repeating several falsehoods in his announcement video, accusing the Republican governor of “stripping away” voting rights and failing to properly prioritize seniors during the initial introduction of vaccines in the Sunshine State.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said Monday he has presidential ambitions in the near future amid unpredictable variables. “It’s possible that at some point in the future, down the road, two, four, six, eight, 10 [years], I don’t know when, that I will find myself in a position and want to pursue it, because I’ve done it in the past,” Rubio told Punchbowl News.

No matter how you slice it, only one candidate can survive the potential “Steel Cage” political death-match brewing in Florida between three Republicans: Gov. Ron DeSantis and Sens. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott. It’s a highly anticipated WWE-like event of epic proportions that assumes current Florida resident Donald Trump will not run for president in 2024. Of course, one never truly knows when it comes to Trump. There was the bizarre recent news report by Business Insider in which a Trump “adviser” declared that the former president “has lost 15 pounds since he left the White House.” One “veteran Republican...

Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio called Donald Trump “the most popular and most influential Republican in America.” And if Trump runs again in 2024, who can beat him? “I think he’ll still be that in ’22 and ’24, and if decides to run for the president and the nomination, he’s going to be the party’s nominee,” Rubio told Newsmax host Greg Kelly. “That’s the way I see it.

Despite a competitive (if not contentious) 2016 GOP primary battle against former President Donald Trump, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., has Trump's endorsement in his bid for reelection next year. In fact, the onetime rivals now share a mutual respect. Indeed, Rubio says, he won't even challenge Trump, whom he called "the most popular and most influential Republican in America," should the former president make another run for the White House in 2024. "If he decides to run for the president and the nomination, he's going to be the party's nominee," Rubio told Newsmax TV's "Greg Kelly Reports" on Wednesday. "That's...

Former President Donald Trump, in an announcement made through the Save America PAC Friday, gave Sen. Marco Rubio his endorsement for the Florida Republican's 2022 Senate bid for reelection. "It is my honor to give U.S. Senator Marco Rubio my Complete and Total Endorsement," Trump said in the statement provided to Newsmax Friday morning. "Marco has been a tireless advocate for the people of Florida, fighting to cut taxes, supporting our Second Amendment, our Military and our Vets, a strong national defense, and all of the forgotten men and women of America." He added that Rubio "worked with me to...

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) wrote a letter asking Major League Baseball (MLB) Commissioner Rob Manfred to “relinquish his personal membership at Georgia’s Augusta National Golf Club” after MLB’s boycott of Georgia over their new voter ID laws.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said Thursday that Delta Air Lines is a business partner with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) which is committing genocide against Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang. “Delta Airlines is a business partner with the Chinese Communist Party. The same Chinese Communist Party that is committing genocide against Uighurs Muslims,” Rubio tweeted in a video.

Read Ed’s post yesterday for background on this odd, unprincipled, but era-befitting stance from Rubio, which he’s now pushing in online videos. Dan Foster ably summarized his position with the infamous words of Oscar Benavides: “For my friends, everything. For my enemies, the law.” Rubio’s spent the four and a half months since Election Day crowing that Trump’s gains among minorities mean the GOP is now a multiracial, multiethnic working-class party. A pro-union stance would be in keeping with that. But his stance isn’t pro-union; it’s anti-woke with unionization as a cudgel. He *could* take a principled pro-labor position by...

Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) voiced his support for a union-organizing drive at an Amazon.com Inc. warehouse in Alabama, accusing the e-commerce giant of waging a culture war that hurts its workers and the economy. In an op-ed article in USA Today on Friday, Mr. Rubio said that adversarial relations between workers and companies could harm the country’s competitiveness. But he said he would support employees “when the conflict is between working Americans and a company whose leadership has decided to wage culture war against working-class values.” “The days of conservatives being taken for granted by the business community are...

Sen. Marco Rubio is urging President Biden to seek “training on unconscious bias” after using the term “Neanderthal” to criticize Republican governors who ended COVID-19 mask mandates. The Florida Republican humorously described the word as a “stereotype” and noted Thursday that many people of Eurasian ancestry descend from the extinct hominid species.

Unfortunately due to an unexpected family issue I was unable to give my speech at @CPAC. I was really looking forward to it.But as I told @mschlapp they should move #cpac to #Florida permanently. pic.twitter.com/iwQlQExPKf— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) February 27, 2021

Marco Rubio, what happened to you? You used to be a good little Republican, but now you’ve gone and aimed your sights against our Constitution. Failed presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio introduced legislation that would strip the Second Amendment rights of any individual who was simply investigated for domestic terrorism, even if they were not charged or convicted for committing an actual crime. Take a moment to consider what this means under a Biden Presidency. On February 2, Rubio reintroduced the bill he has been pushing since the Orlando Pulse radical Islamic terrorist attack in 2016. The bill calls for...

Republican Senator for Florida Marco Rubio on Sunday declined to speculate on rumors that former US president Donald Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, may challenge him for his seat in 2022, saying only that anyone seeking to take his position in the Senate will face a “tough race.” Speaking to Fox News, Rubio also said that trying the former president in the Senate would be counterproductive and like “pouring gasoline on the fire.” Ivanka Trump, a former senior adviser to the president, is said to be considering a run for office and rumors were given a further boost after she and her...

Cavuto asked if Trump’s language was “incendiary enough.” Rubio said, “I think there’s no doubt that the president bears some responsibility for what happened.”

Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah said on “Fox News Sunday” that new faces of the Republican Party have the potential to flourish now that former President Trump is out of office. He named Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, and Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska as potential spokespeople. “So there will be some new faces,” Mr. Romney said. “President Trump, of course, will continue to have influence, but I think our party is going to return to some of our more fundamental principles, which is fiscal responsibility, believing in the importance of character,...