Report: Rep. Stephanie Murphy Plans to Announce Senate Run Challenging Marco Rubio

Vulnerable Florida Democrat Rep. Stephanie Murphy is set to leave her House seat as she looks to announce a U.S. Senate run against incumbent Republican Sen. Marco Rubio (FL) in early June, reports show.

Murphy, who is at risk of losing her seat due to redistricting, will announce in early June a campaign for the U.S. Senate in Florida against Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, according to “people familiar with the matter,” who told Axios.

The Democrats have been known to be good fundraisers, which would help her jump into the race easily. She will have a long battle ahead of her as she hopes to “force Rubio and allied GOP groups to spend heavily to retain a seat in a state that’s trending Republican.”

Former President Donald Trump won the state by “more than 3 percentage points in 2020, up from a narrow one-point margin in 2016,” according to the report. Trump, while in Florida, accused the “Democrats of being soft on socialism.” Murphy “fled Communist Vietnam as a child” but has called herself a “proud capitalist” in the past and additionally “warned Democrats about embracing socialism.”

One of the congresswoman’s campaign spokespersons told Axios, “Rep. Murphy has not made a decision on whether to run for the U.S. Senate.”

In addition, the Sunshine State is reportedly going to gain a congressional seat. Still, the state’s Republican-dominated legislature will ultimately decide how the new district will be shaped, putting her at risk. President Joe Biden in 2020 won Murphy’s district by about ten points, which could be nothing after the redrawing of the districts.

With the mass exodus of vulnerable Democrats and the midterms quickly approaching, Democrats have been noticing their time quickly shrinking to find viable candidates willing to run. The Democrats are looking to escape the possible loss of a majority or seeking higher office.

The Republican campaign arm, National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), created an “Exit List,” which is comprised of vulnerable Democrats the Republicans are looking to pick off in the midterms. They have since expanded their list of seats by ten more vulnerable members.

Murphy is a member of the original list.

A recent tracker poll shows an overwhelming majority (66 percent) of senior Capitol Hill aides believe Republicans will regain the House in 2022.

Axios had reported, Florida “will be center stage in 2022” for a lot of “presidential ambitions”:

• Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis is also up for reelection, with Democratic Rep. Charlie Crist already announcing a challenge and Rep. Val Demings mulling her own.
• While Rubio ran for president in 2016, DeSantis could make his own bid for the White House in 2024, assuming he wins reelection.
• Florida Sen. Rick Scott, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee, also has hinted at presidential aspirations.

Breitbart News’s Washington political editor Matthew Boyle recently reported Murphy’s Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings show the vulnerable Democrat has a “flood of corporate cash into her campaign from big multinational companies with deep ties in China.” Noting, the finding came after pressure was put on Murphy to “to address the fact that her husband’s company manufactures women’s softball pants, the design patent for which she is a partial holder in China rather than in the United States.”