Since dropping out of the presidential race, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) has said he isn’t reconsidering his decision not to seek another term in the U.S. Senate, but he knows exactly when the deadline is to change his mind and run again.
In a brief hallway interview Thursday on Capitol Hill, Rubio obfuscated when asked if he was at all tempted to run again for his Senate seat.
“I’m not focused on that. I’ve already said what my intentions are and at this point you know [we] have people out there running already,” Rubio said.
Reminded that he had until the end of June, the interview concluded. Rubio walked away, turned, smiled and said, “June 24.”
His office said Rubio’s plans for 2017 are still unchanged and that he was making the comment in jest.
“It was a joke. He’s going to serve out the rest of his Senate term and become a private citizen in January 2017,” a spokesman from his office said.
Rubio said he plans to spend the summer and fall campaigning for his colleagues running for re-election in the Senate and in the House as well as spend time campaigning for state legislators who were helpful to him in Florida.
“I intend to spend all of July, August, September and October campaigning on behalf of conservatives so that we can hold the House and Senate majority and at the state legislature levels as well,” Rubio said.
