The 'Rubio Effect:' Conservative Victory Among a Diversifying Electorate

[Geee]

Townhall:

Interesting stuff from Politico, deep-diving into the numbers to contextualize the depth and breadth of Marco Rubio's dominant Senate win in Florida. The freshman Senator initially announced his intention to forgo a re-election bid in order to focus exclusively on seeking the GOP's presidential nomination, then bowed to intense pressure from the party to reverse course after dropping out of the 2016 sweepstakes. When he changed his mind and threw his hat back into the Senate ring, I called his move a calculated political risk:

 

Democrats, meanwhile, have said they'll pull out all the stops to beat Rubio, whose political career they're eager to kill. If the Trump undertow does sink Rubio, his political future will be severely crippled, if not dead. He'll have sustained an embarrassing presidential primary blowout defeat in his home state, flip-flopped into running for Senate again, then lost that race, too. He'll have been rejected by Florida's Republican voters and overall electorate in consecutive races. I'm not sure even a guy as talented Marco Rubio could overcome that one-two punch. Conversely, if Rubio prevails, his star will regain its glimmer, and he'll once again secure a prominent perch within the "future of the party's" upper echelon. Let's be candid: If Rubio wants to run for president again -- which I gather he does -- that would be a much stronger position to occupy than, for example, trying to mount another bid as a one-term ex-Senator who finished third in a failed White House bid, before promptly leaving public life.

The gamble paid off. Not only did Rubio retain his seat -- helping the party hold the Senate -- his erstwhile primary rival also won the state en route to the presidency. Rubio managed to score an eight-point victory, which is an impressive feat in such a closely-divided state. (Relatedly, Sen. Rob Portman's 21-point Ohio romp was quite a sight to behold). Some nuggets from Politico:

The election that was supposed to kill Marco Rubio’s political career only made him stronger.