Former Florida House Speaker won’t run for Rubio’s Senate seat

The field of potential Republican candidates vying to replace Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) in the Senate lost another top contender on Wednesday, as former Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford announced over Twitter he would take a pass.

Many good candidates looking at 2016 Senate race, I will not be one of them. (1/3)

— Will Weatherford (@willweatherford) April 15, 2015

My wife and I have an agreement that I will not run for office while we still have children in diapers. (2/3)

— Will Weatherford (@willweatherford) April 15, 2015

I look forward to seeing a great field of Republican candidates and holding R majority in U.S. Senate. (3/3)

— Will Weatherford (@willweatherford) April 15, 2015

Republicans in Florida say Weatherford is a rare political talent with cross-party appeal who would have been a formidable candidate both in the GOP primary and in the general election.

Weatherford has garnered comparisons to Rubio, having become Florida Speaker of the House at the age of 32. He left office in 2014 to form a venture capital firm with his brothers and raise his young family.

Over the weekend, Florida Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater, who had been galvanizing support among establishment Republicans in the state, shocked political watchers by taking a pass. Attorney General Pam Bondi said last week she’d seek reelection instead of running for Senate.

But the field of potential GOP candidates is still large.

Conservative groups signaled on Tuesday they would line up behind Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.), urging the two-term lawmaker to run. 

In addition, Reps. Tom Rooney, Vern Buchanan and David Jolly, Lt. Gov. Carlos López-Cantera and state Sen. Don Gaetz are on the growing list of names Republicans in the state say could get into the race.