Patrick Murphy Takes Aim at Mike Lee Backing Ron DeSantis

U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy’s, D-Fla., team fired away at 2016 rival U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., after U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, backed the Florida Republican.

DeSantis and Murphy are both running to replace U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., in 2016. Rubio is currently running for the Republican presidential nomination and has said he won’t seek a second term in the Senate regardless of how his bid fares.  

Lee, a favorite of the tea party movement, announced on Thursday he was backing DeSantis for the Republican nod. That led Galia Slayen, a spokeswoman for Murphy, to take aim at Lee, noting he wanted to raise the age for Social Security eligibility and hitting other parts of his record. 
 
“Ron DeSantis and Sen. Mike Lee are two peas in a pod when it comes to their tea party priorities that are wrong for Florida families,” Slayen said on Friday. “Between wanting to raise the retirement age to 70, voting against Hurricane Sandy relief, and trying to defund Planned Parenthood, Floridians deserve better than the disastrous Lee-DeSantis agenda that will hurt Florida women and families.”