There is only one outlet reporting on this but supposedly, Marco Rubio had approached Ted Cruz to ask him for a public urging to run for the US Senate in Florida. Marco Rubio has confirmed he will be running for re-election despite having said many times since dropping from the Presidential race he was going to be a private citizen starting in 2017.

That could very well be the case if he doesn’t win but his decision to run again is certainly a major departure from what he has been saying publicly. The Washingtonian is claiming Marco Rubio lobbied Ted Cruz for his support:

Marco Rubio reached out to Ted Cruz to confirm his intent to run for reelection to his Florida Senate seat, according to sources familiar with the matter.

According to two aides briefed on the Tuesday phone call, Rubio asked Cruz to blast out a statement urging Rubio to run for reelection, “so it’s not just Mitch [McConnell]” asking him to do so, as one aide described it.

I might normally call nonsense on this because it almost sounds like DeSantis aides are the ones providing the information. But take a look at this:

Those aides say Cruz declined, as he didn’t want to be accused of nudging out US Representative Ron DeSantis, the tea-party favorite in the race for Rubio’s seat. The aides say that Senator Mike Lee of Utah echoed that concern after Rubio approached him with the same request. A Lee aide confirmed that this conversation took place.

Emphasis mine. That somebody in Mike Lee’s office confirmed this makes me think perhaps Rubio (or at least somebody on his staff) did do this. I suppose it is understandable given the situation but it also reeks of a bit of desperation. Nobody in Florida is going to care that Mitch McConnell wanted Rubio to run again.

Once a general election campaign in Florida kicks off, especially if Democrats nominate that lunatic, Alan Grayson, nobody will remember this. But for now it doesn’t look all that good.