Sen. Marco Rubio told reporters on Wednesday he doesn’t plan to run for president and reelection to the Senate at the same time in 2016.
If he seeks the presidency, the Florida Republican said, “I won’t be able to run for reelect.”
“If I decide that I want to be president of the United States then that’s what I’m going to run for,” he said at a Washington breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor. “I think if you want to be president, that’s what you want to be and that’s what you run for, what you focus on.”
Florida law prohibits a candidate from appearing on the same ballot for two different offices.
A potential run for president “will not be with the intention of looking for a Plan B if it doesn’t work out,” Rubio said. “That is not my plan. That is not my intention.” He said there will be multiple Republicans seeking the nomination to his Senate seat.
Another GOP presidential hopeful, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, faces a similar dilemma in 2016 but is reportedly looking for a way to run for reelection at the same time.
Rubio said he hadn’t made a decision yet and offered no clues as to which way he’s leaning “at this stage in my life, at this stage in my career.”
He disagreed with Republicans who say a governor should be president, arguing that most of the people making that argument are governors and that senators have more experience dealing with foreign policy. He also said he hasn’t thought about who should replace him in the Senate if he did decide to seek the White House.
Photo credit: Bryan Dozier/The Christian Science Monitor
He did not mention what he would do if he was selected as a VP candidate by the Primary winner, but no one asked the question either.
He does make a good point on the Gov vs Senator thing. Governors don’t necessarily make better candidates than Senators.
Random needs to make a similar decision before he goes any further instead of trying to manipulate the Kentucky legislature…
Little Marco jumping up and down in the back behind the Big Kids and saying “Me! Me! Pick me!”
Marco H-2-O mentioned that if he wants to be president…
Hey! WaterManChild Just be cause you want to be president doesn’t make it so.
Memo to Marco Rubio: Give up your day job!