Even as his political future remains uncertain, Marco Rubio is showing no signs of heading to the sidelines.
Rubio’s in a bit of an odd spot politically following Donald Trump driving him out of the Republican presidential race. While he carried Miami Dade County, Rubio was blown out across the state by Trump in the primary earlier this month as the GOP frontrunner won in every other county.
Already on the record as saying he would not run for a second term this year, Rubio has also closed the doors to other offices in recent days. After dropping out of the presidential race, Rubio said he did not want to end up on the GOP ticket in the vice presidential spot. Rubio and his camp have also shot down buzz that he was going to join former rival Ted Cruz in a unity ticket as they offered a last ditch effort to stop Trump. Rubio also went out of his way to say he wasn’t running for governor in 2018.
In the short run at least, there doesn’t appear to be any where for Rubio to go. Still, he shows no indication that he wants to spend his last months in the Senate off stage.
Since getting back to the Senate, Rubio’s been making up for lost time. Rubio’s spotty voting record, missing too many votes as he campaigned for the presidency, was one of his vulnerabilities in the primaries, doing more damage than he and his team had apparently been prepared for. Perhaps shoring up one of his weak spots, Rubio has weighed in on numerous topics since ending his presidential bid less than two weeks ago.
Not surprisingly, Rubio’s waded back into foreign policy which has been one of his focuses in the Senate. With President Barack Obama in Cuba last week, Rubio’s been out front in criticizing the effort to normalize relations with the Castro regime. After getting knocked out of the race by Trump, Rubio returned to the Senate and called for more sanctions on Iran as that Middle Eastern nation continues to test missiles in violation of UN resolutions. Rubio’s also calling for more action against ISIS after the Brussels terror attacks.
On the domestic front, Rubio is also trying to cover his conservative bases. Marking Obamacare’s sixth anniversary, Rubio went after that law, insisting it needs to be “repealed and replaced.” Rubio also accepted the International Religious Freedom (IRF) Roundtable’s Thomas Jefferson International Religious Freedom Award last week.
Rubio hasn’t throw his support to any of the remaining presidential hopefuls yet but that should also give him a little bit of media attention. Based on the first two weeks after he dropped out of the race, Rubio’s going to be keeping busy, even if where he goes from here remains uncertain.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @ KevinDerbySSN
