Florida legislators jump at the chance
to become Florida’s next U.S. Senator
Wow. Just look at the legislators lunging for the coveted open Senate 
seat left by Marco Rubio‘s White House ambition. The list 15 months out already makes for two delicious 2016 primaries in what is already a year full of races to watch.
No matter what aisle you sit on — blue or red — this is going to be a fun ride.
Congressman Patrick Murphy was the first to jump into the ring in March, even before Rubio announced he would run for president. And he hasn’t stopped, since then, churning out the press releases and the statements and useless online petitions against a raise for Congress and Citizens United.
Murphy is already the obvious Democratic front runner — and, yes, you can say that this far out, though Ladra reserves the right to change her mind — but that doesn’t mean the primary won’t be exciting anyway. Or entertaining, at the very least. That’s because his likely chief opponent, Congressman Alan Grayson of Orlando, is a left-of-center Dem bomb dropper with recent, riveting headlines that promise to echo throughout the year 
and the fundraising ability of a national ultra liberal icon with a coast-to-coast base.
I mean, not only is he seeking an annulment from his wife of 24 years, who he’s accused of bigamy in a bitter divorce dispute, but his girlfriend is apparently meeting with possible supporters to run for Grayson’s U.S. House seat if he runs for Senate.
And you thought this kinda thing only happened in the 305!
Over on the red side, we have an interesting and possibly closer race brewing in the GOP primary between Republican Congressman Ron DeSantis, who declared his intention to run this week, and Lt. Gov. and Miami-boy-done-good Carlos “C-Lo” Lopez-Cantera, who hasn’t formally announced but is widely reported to be knee deep in consideration already. Especially with a super Pac reportedly in formation.
Read related story: Lopez-Cantera move could pave way to higher elected office
He has lots of reasons to go for it: How often do you get an
open Senate seat? He doesn’t have to resign from his LG post and gets access to Gov. Rick Scott‘s fundraising machinery. Sure, the Guv said he is staying out of the primary but they work right next to each other. How out do you think he can stay?
And he has Marco Rubio’s support, whether it is expressed or not. The two friends (here they are expressing solidarity with Venezuelans and Scott in Doral) are allies who would be on the same ticket and that could generate some exciting joojoo for each.
But Lopez-Cantera also has reasons to wait it out for another opportunity: He is a young man with a young family he would hate to be away from, or have to move to D.C., and there are other more local seats he could run for after serving out his term as LG. And, even if he gets by August, he’d have to go against a Dem with Hillary Clinton on the top of the ticket in what many consider to be a blue year.
Still, Ladra can’t imagine C-Lo would pass up this opportunity. I think he’s all but told everyone, wink wink, nod, nod. He was probably just forced to come
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