A Florida senator predicted doom and gloom Wednesday for Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) in his home state primary next week.
After Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) said Hillary Clinton, who he has endorsed, would win the state by “double digits,” he predicted a crushing defeat for his colleague and replied simply “Trump will win Florida by double digits” when asked about the GOP race.
A solid five seconds of silence slid by before MSNBC’s Kate Snow, clearly taken aback by Nelson’s remark, could recover.
“That’s it, double digits, period?” Snow asked with a laugh.
“Yes, ma’am,” he said.
When Snow pressed Nelson on why he predicts a big loss for Rubio, he said “it’s obvious.”
“Not only the polling that you have, but Trump’s been there a lot and then the results of last night for Marco being so low, I think the ground has shifted from underneath him, and it’s shifting primarily to Trump and some to Cruz, but I think Trump will clearly take the Republican primary next Tuesday,” Nelson said.
TPM’s PollTracker Average shows Trump leading the state with 40 percent support, with Rubio polling in second at 26 percent.
Rubio’s campaign has fought rumors in recent days that the senator would drop out of the race before the Tuesday Florida primary after a string of disappointing primary finishes.
