Rubio Beats Back Challenge From Patrick Murphy To Win Second Term In U.S. Senate
MIAMI, Fla. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Marco Rubio failed in his bid to end up in the White House, but he's still going back to Washington. Florida voters elected him to a second term in the Senate on Tuesday.
He had wavered for months before deciding to run for re-election. He beat back a challenge from Democratic Rep. Patrick Murphy, who has repeatedly tried to link Rubio to Donald Trump.
The two Senate candidates differed starkly on a number of issues _ including guns, health care, foreign policy, economic issues and abortion. Each sought to leverage voter discontent with both the GOP and Democratic nominees.
As CBS Miami reported, Rubio took the stage shortly before 9 p.m. to thank voters and congratulate Murphy.
"I congratulated him on a good race. Congressman is a young man with a bright future," said Rubio. "Patrick ran a great race."
Presidential Results
Rubio held onto had a narrow lead in polling going into Election Day over Murphy, who was abandoned by his own party after Democratic bosses decided to pull ad money from expensive Florida and invest it in Missouri, North Carolina and Indiana, instead.
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