U.S. Rep. David Jolly will be announcing whether he will forego his campaign to replace U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and try to return to the House of Representatives on Friday, and he's not the only one who may drop out of the race.
This week has been an especially uncertain time in the Florida Senate race, with Rubio mulling over the possibility to run for re-election after all. That possibility opened up after a Sunday shooting in Orlando which left 50 dead and dozens wounded.
Jolly made the announcement Wednesday on Fox News’ Fox and Friends.
Next Friday is the deadline to file to run for office, which means the clock is ticking if Jolly wants to return back to his home base to run for the House.
Jolly won the seat in a special election in 2014 against former Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink and was re-elected for the same position later that year.
If Jolly were to run again for his seat, he would face off against Republican Mark Bircher and Democrat and former Gov. Charlie Crist, who entered the race last October.
Polls have suggested Jolly would be incredibly competitive against Crist for the seat, which could throw a huge wedge in what would have been an easy race for Crist, a St. Petersburg native.
A recent St. Pete Polls survey found Jolly with a slight lead over Crist, carrying 44.3 percent to Crist’s 43.7 percent.
Last year, Rubio said he would not run for another term in the Senate in order to run for president, but dropped out of the Republican primary in March after losing to presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump in Florida.
Republicans are telling Rubio he should reconsider his original decision to leave politics behind and become a private citizen instead.
And if Rubio decides to run, other Republicans in the race are saying they would step aside and try to give him an open field to cruise to victory.
"I will support Marco if he gets in the race," Jolly said Wednesday.
Jolly isn’t the only one who has said he would leave the Senate race if Rubio decided to jump back in.
According to an article published by Politico Wednesday, Lieutenant Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera said he, too, would drop his bid if Rubio changed his mind.
Lopez-Cantera and Rubio, longtime friends, met in Orlando Sunday over the Pulse nightclub shooting where they talked about Rubio’s position in politics, wrote Politico.
Lopez-Cantera said he was still in the race -- for now.
"I am still in this race and nothing has changed. However, if Marco decides to enter this race, I will not be filing the paperwork to run for the U.S. Senate,” he said.
Rubio said he would go home to talk the possibility over with his family over the weekend.
Two other Republicans in the race, Carlos Beruff and Todd Wilcox, said they had no intentions of dropping out if Rubio changed his mind.
Reach reporter Allison Nielsen by email at allison@sunshinestatenews.com or follow her on Twitter: @AllisonNielsen.
