As he was pressed Monday night during a heated, hour-long debate with Democratic challenger Patrick Murphy, Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio said he won’t abandon his office for a presidential run in 2020 if re-elected this year.
The Senate candidates clashed over their parties’ presidential nominees, Rubio’s Senate attendance record, allegations that Murphy has embellished his resume and near party-line views on gun control, immigration, the Affordable Care Act, climate change and Cuba.
Rubio highlighted his accomplishments as Florida House speaker and as a member of the U.S. Senate and contrasted that with Murphy’s lack of signed legislation despite a reputation as being a moderate member of the U.S. House.
Rubio also said “God willing” he would serve all six years if re-elected, something Democrats and Murphy have been hitting the incumbent on as they assert he is using the re-election bid to bolster future White House ambitions.
When pressed by ABC chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl, the moderator of the debate, Rubio replied, “I’m going to serve in the Senate for the next six years. God willing.”
“I’m going to be a senator for the state of Florida for the next six years on behalf of the state of Florida,” he added as Karl sought a more direct response. “You can’t be senator and president at the same time.”
Rubio’s comment appeared to have caught Murphy off guard, as a few moments later the Democrat rattled off that Rubio still hadn’t vowed to “commit to serving a full term,” as he responded to a question about his own business career.
Rubio, who was criticized as being robotic during his failed presidential run after repeating a debate-prep line four times at one event, snapped back Monday, saying, “that’s a line he practiced before I said what I actually said today.”
He and Murphy sparred about their parties’ presidential nominees for nearly 15 minutes to open the debate, a topic they would re-address throughout the event.
Murphy, a two-term congressman from Jupiter, took aim during his opening statement at Rubio’s endorsement of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
He noted Rubio continues to back Trump despite having called him a “con man” whom he doesn’t trust with the nuclear codes and despite derogatory comments by Trump about women, Mexicans, disabled people and veterans.
“If you can’t stand up to Donald Trump as a candidate, how in the world are you going to stand up to him as the president of the United States?” Murphy asked. “This is about what he’s done. Think of how unqualified he is.”
Rubio repeated a line he rolled out prior to the debate, saying neither presidential candidate is inspirational. And while he disagrees with a lot that Trump says and does, Rubio said he disagrees with everything from Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
When Murphy asked Rubio if there was anything Trump could do that would cause him to rethink his endorsement, the incumbent shot back, “Of course, like a lot of the things that Hillary Clinton stands for and does.”