Rubio Move Part of GOP Strategy to Keep Senate Even if Trump Loses

Marco Rubio's decision on Wednesday to run for re-election for his Florida U.S. Senate seat, at the urging of party leaders, is part of an aggressive series of moves the GOP is taking in the hopes of keeping control of the Senate, even if Donald Trump is badly defeated in the presidential race.

Key party officials, led by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, passed over several Republicans who were already running for the Florida seat to implore Rubio to seek a second term, even though the former presidential candidate had spent months saying that he was leaving the Senate.

Former President George W. Bush, who has largely stayed out of politics since he left office, is holding fundraisers for Republican Senate candidates in close races, even as his aides have said that he will not attend the GOP convention in Cleveland that will nominate Trump. And groups affiliated with the conservative Koch brothers are already investing heavily in campaign ads and ground operations to win key Senate races in states like Ohio and Wisconsin.

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