Even as U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Fla., said he was not going to run, U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., is looking at running for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. Last week, Rubio launched a presidential bid and is not expected to run for a second term in the Senate.
Miller told USA Today on Monday that he is looking at entering the race.
It's something that I have been looking at for over a month," Miller told USA Today. "I had several individuals come to me, laying out what they saw was a pathway to victory, and I am looking at the options at this point."
Miller told USA Today that fundraising could be a challenge but added he was confident he could raise the money needed to make the race and said he would make a decision in the coming weeks.
Currently the chair of the U.S. House Veterans Affairs Committee, a post he will have to give up next year due to term limits on chairmanships, Miller has been in the national spotlight over the past year as reports surfaced around the country of altered waiting lists at VA medical centers across the country. Eventually, the problems at VA hospitals led to then-VA Secretary Eric Shinseki resigning his post. Miller has been a leading advocate of reforming the VA and has made national media appearances on the matter.
First elected to Congress in 2001 after then-U.S. Rep. Joe Scarborough, R-Fla., resigned, Miller has been a proven winner in the heavily Republican Panhandle. Before that, Miller served in the Florida House and was the executive assistant to longtime Florida Agriculture Commissioner Doyle Conner. Miller threw his name in the mix to lead the U.S. House Intelligence Committee but that post went to U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., earlier this year.
Miller is one of several Florida Republicans looking at running to replace Rubio. Both U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis and U.S. Rep. David Jolly, R-Fla., have opened the door to running. So have Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera, former Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum and former Florida Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville. Other potential candidates include former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux, U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., U.S. Rep. Curt Clawson, R-Fla., and U.S. Rep. Dennis Ross, R-Fla.
Rooney said on Monday that he would not run for the Senate in 2016. In recent weeks, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, state CFO Jeff Atwater and former Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford took themselves out of the race.
On the Democratic side, U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Fla., entered the race last month and U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla., is considering getting in.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
