The upcoming 2016 Republican congressional primary race to replace Rep. Patrick Murphy, who is running for the U.S. Senate, has just been busted wide open.
Rep. Pat Rooney Jr., brother to Congressman Tom Rooney, and whose family owns the Pittsburgh Steelers, has announced that he would not be running for Congress in Florida’s 18 congressional district.
Rooney has long been considered to be the overwhelming frontrunner in the race, if he would have jumped into the race.
Rebecca Negron, the wife of State Senator Joe Negron, has already announced her candidacy for Murphy’s seat, as has former State Rep. Carl Domino. Domino earned the right to face-off with Murphy when he won the 2014 Republican congressional primary race, but then lost the general election to Murphy by 20 points.
I’m not sure what makes Domino think he can win this time around, as it was proven that just because you have millions of dollars to spend on a congressional race, it doesn’t guarantee a win.
While it is expected that as many as 7-8 congressional hopefuls will jump into this race—including some of the other 2014 virtual no-name primary candidates that couldn’t raise a dime if their lives depended on it—there could be one GOP candidate that may suck all of the oxygen and emotion out of the race, if he or she decides to run for Congress.
Stay tuned for more on this.