Republican Florida Senate candidate Ron DeSantis with Sen. David Vitter
Rep. Ron DeSantis kicked off his bid for this open seat on Wednesday, making him the first credible Republican to jump in. DeSantis is close to well-funded anti-establishment conservative groups, and the Club for Growth, FreedomWorks, and Senate Conservatives Fund
immediately endorsed him. But DeSantis' tea party background could be a
liability in a general election, and not all Sunshine State Republicans are keen to have him as their standard bearer.
Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera and ex-Attorney General Bill McCollum have also been talking about running in the GOP primary, and one of DeSantis' House colleagues also sounds like he's laying the groundwork. Rep. Jeff Miller, who represents the Pensacola area, told reporters on Wednesday that he's a "couple months away" from a decision. But Miller is meeting with Republican activists in Palm Beach County, far away from his district, and stressing his conservatism. Weirdly, the man who arranged Miller's meet-and-greet is none other than ex-Rep. Mark Foley... who resigned from Congress in 2006 when news broke that he exchanged sexually explicit messages with teenage House pages. If even Foley can work his way back into the party's good graces, I guess anyone can!