Crowley Political Report

One of Florida's most promising Democrats - and they are few and far between - U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy is leaving his Treasure Coast congressional seat to run for the U.S. Senate.

Blame it on Republican Marco Rubio who went to Washington with eyes on the White House. His bid to get there is complicated, ,made even more difficult by presidential candidate Jeb Bush. Still, Rubio seems to headed toward a national campaign and he has insisted that he would not run for a second term if he runs for the White House.

Murphy, who won his Republican-leaning congressional seat in a tough battle against GOP extremist Allen West, works his district like a small town mayor. A Democratic centrist, he easily won reelection last year.

Murphy, 31, is also ready to take on Rubio, should the Republican senator decide a White House bid is not going to work for him.

Last week, in what seemed like a carefully orchestrated Democratic Party move to clear the deck for Murphy, Charlie Crist and U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz both announced they would not run for the senate seat.

Of course, if Rubio does not run for reelection, there are a lot of folks in both parties who look in the mirror and see a United States Senator. The field could get very crowded.

Murphy's prepared statement:

“I’m running for the U.S. Senate for the same reason I ran for Congress in 2012 — Washington is full of hyper-partisan politicians who can’t, or won’t, get anything done, and Florida deserves better.

I’m a consensus-builder who is working to boost the economy by cutting waste in government, raise the minimum wage, strengthen Social Security and Medicare, and protect the Everglades. I’ve done all of this by being an independent voice for Florida, and that’s what the Senate needs more of right now.”