Marco Rubio to run for re-election to the Senate

Rubio told The Miami Herald “I think that the point that really drove me to change my mind is that as we enter this kind of new chapter in our history here is, there’s another role the Senate plays that I think can be really important in the years to come . . . that’s the power given to it in the Constitution to act as a check and balance on the excess of the president."

Rubio dropped out of the presidential race in March after losing the winner-take-all Florida primary to Donald Trump. He repeatedly insisted afterward that he would be a private citizen once his term expired at the end of this year.

I have only said like 10000 times I will be a private citizen in January.

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) May 17, 2016

During his presidential campaign, he was attacked repeatedly by his opponents for missing votes and hearings in the Senate. Rubio responded by saying that most Senate votes aren't meaningful because the bills aren't going to pass anyway.

But top Republicans have urged him to run for re-election, and a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday indicated that Rubio is the only GOP candidate who would defeat either of the two big-name Democrats vying for the Senate seat, if the election were held today.

We need Senator Rubio back in the Senate

— JohnCornyn (@JohnCornyn) June 22, 2016

The two congressional Democrats running for the nomination — Alan Grayson and Patrick Murphy — each win head-to-head against any of the four major Republican candidates, Rep. Ron DeSantis, Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera, and businessmen Todd Wilcox and Carlos Beruff.

Rubio had to make a decision this week to meet the filing deadline for the Senate race.