It's the beginning of a new fight for U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio. He easily won the primary for his senate seat, crushing his opponents, taking over 70 percent of the vote.
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Rubio took the stage at his Primary Election night party in Kissimmee to celebrate with his supporters. He knows is the first step in the race to keep his Senate seat.
"This has been an unusual road back here with you tonight," said Rubio.
"His opening remarks addressing the fact that he almost did not run for this race.
"As you know, after my race ended in March for the presidency I was prepared to become a private citizen and I was not just prepared to do so but I was excited about what that meant," said Rubio. "I just couldn't be at peace with the idea that we were going to potentially lose a Senate seat, but lost the balance of power in the Senate at this critical moment in our nation's history."
Many like Cynthia Wallace hoped Rubio would have been the Republican presidential nominee.
"I cried three days after the presidential campaign," said Wallace.
Rubio said he knows this is the beginning of the race now against a candidate he calls "handpicked" by President Barack Obama.
"If Patrick Murphy wants to be a U.S. Senator, it doesn't matter how politically connected, wealthy, or influential his family is. He wants to be U.S. Senator, he's going to have to earn in by beating the son of a bartender and a maid who came to this country in search of a better life," said Rubio.
The people who packed Rubio's primary election night party at the Embassy Suites in Kissimmee say they are happy to see him back in a race. Now, they want to get him re-elected to the Senate and maybe see him back on the ticket to the White House some day.
"I'm looking forward to Marco winning this election and actually running for the next time we need a Republican Presidential candidate," said Joseph Ewing, a Kissimmee resident.
The senator will be in D.C. next week when the session begins. One of the big proposals he is pushing is the Central Everglades Planning Project to fix issues with discharges into Lake Okeechobee.
