Marco Rubio earned a warm ovation when he finally returned to his Senate office Wednesday after departing the Republican race for president.
Strolling in after 11 AM, Rubio garnered applause from his Senate staffers. Rubio is less than two days removed from being heckled in his concession speech in Florida after a humiliating home-state loss to Donald Trump.
Rubio was notoriously absent from his Senate work during his campaign, missing so many votes that Jeb Bush said that Rubio should resign the seat.
While Rubio’s staffers apparently went on working without him, Rubio was out on the trail. Some of his misadventures included hitting a kid in the face with a football, wearing designer boots, making weird put-downs about Donald Trump’s face, getting mocked by Chris Christie and inspiring costumed robot protesters for his scripted talking points. Minnesota was the only state primary he won.
Rubio is giving up his Senate seat after the 2016 election, potentially to run for governor of Florida.