Republican Marco Rubio, long-time critic of China, wins 3rd US Senate term
- Marco Rubio, whose presidential ambitions were thwarted by Donald Trump in 2016, has served in the US Senate since 2011
- Republican Rubio is a long-time critic of China and senior member of the Committee on Foreign relations
Republican US Senator Marco Rubio has won a third term, defeating congresswoman Val Demings and holding a key seat as the Republican Party tried to regain control of a closely divided Senate.
Rubio, 51, faced perhaps his toughest battle since he was first elected in 2010 after serving as the Florida House speaker. Once a presidential hopeful in 2016, Rubio’s name is less often mentioned as a potential 2024 candidate.
Rubio ran a campaign pulled from the Republican playbook, tying Demings to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Joe Biden and hammering her on issues like spending, rising inflation and a crisis at the southern border.
The Republican was helped by shifting voter registration numbers in Florida. The last time Rubio ran for re-election, Democrats had about 327,000 more registered voters than Republicans.
That has since flipped, with the Republican Party now having a nearly 300,000 advantage over Democrats.
As vice-chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and a member of the Committee on Foreign relations, Rubio has pushed for taking a harder line against China and returning manufacturing of critical supplies like prescription drugs to the US.