Rubio: If elected, I plan to serve full Senate term

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) on Wednesday seemed to shut the door on mounting a presidential bid in 2020, reiterating that he plans to serve the entire six-year term if reelected to the Senate.

{mosads}Critics, including Democratic opponent Patrick Murphy, have said Rubio just wants to use the Senate as a steppingstone to another presidential run. Rubio pushed back, insisting he plans to serve his full term.

“Not only am I going to serve for six years — I’ve been honest with people [about] the things I want to achieve. Some may take longer than six years to achieve. And so that’s what my focus is on, 100 percent,” Rubio said on Newsradio 970 WFLA, according to CNN.

Rubio, who dropped out of this year’s GOP primary race after losing his home state, made similar comments during his debate Monday night against Murphy, when he promised to serve a full Senate term, “God willing.”

“If I wanted to run for something else, I wouldn’t have run for Senate,” Rubio said Wednesday. “My opponent keeps saying I’m gonna run for president. If I wanted to run for president in four years, I would have just stayed out of this race and started running on November the 9, which a lot of other people are going to do.

“I wouldn’t have run for reelection at the last minute in the toughest swing state in the country in a year as uncertain as this one.”

Rubio also drew a contrast between himself and Murphy, arguing that the Florida Democrat has little to show from his congressional tenure.

“As far as my commitment to the office … that’s proven by my record of achievement,” Rubio said.

“And you compare that to Patrick Murphy, who is not some outsider coming into politics,” Rubio continued. “He’s been a congressman for four years. He has never had a single bill — not one — signed into law by the president or even passed out of the full House, not to mention the Senate.”

This isn’t the first time Rubio has insisted that he doesn’t have 2020 presidential ambitions. After making a last-minute reversal and deciding to run for reelection this summer, Rubio said the move wasn’t about another White House bid.

“I didn’t run for the Senate to run for president again,” Rubio said in an interview with CBS News’s “Face the Nation” in June.

Rubio is seeking reelection to a Senate seat that could determine which party controls the upper chamber next year. Democrats need to flip five seats — or four if they keep control of the White House — to win a Senate majority.

Polls show the GOP senator comfortably ahead, leading Murphy by 4 points in a RealClearPolitics average. On Tuesday, Senate Democrats’ campaign arm pulled the remainder of reserved TV ads to boost Murphy in the final week of the campaign.