• FL-Sen: Both parties expect Republican Sen. Marco Rubio to seek the White House next year rather than run for re-election, though he hasn't announced his plans yet. There is no shortage of notable Republicans interested in replacing Rubio, though some would-be candidates may decide to sit out this cycle and run for governor or for the other Senate seat in 2018. On Thursday, two more prominent Republicans made it known that they're considering a bid.
Former state House Speaker Will Weatherford has been talked about as a potential Senate candidate for a while, and even Rubio himself recently touted him. Until now, Weatherford has been pretty quiet about his plans, but the Tampa Bay Times finally extracted a quote from him. Weatherford says that it's "too soon to make a decision," but he notably did not deny interest.
Rep. Vern Buchanan also told the Times that he's going to "take a look at it." Buchanan is a particularly interesting possibility, because he's personally wealthy (he owes a number of car dealerships) and would be able to self-fund ... perhaps not to the same extent as, say, Rick Scott, but at least enough to put a large operation in place quickly.
On the other hand, Buchanan has some previous black clouds hanging over him. There have been various lawsuits and ethics investigations regarding shady campaign finance practices, centered on those same auto dealerships. As recently as 2012, Democrats tried went after Buchanan over these stories, but he easily turned back a credible challenger that year and cruised to victory in 2014. But while these allegations have since petered out, opposition research by both primary and general election opponents are likely to bring them back to front and center. Romney won Buchanan's Sarasota-based 16th District by a 54-45 margin, so the NRCC probably won't have much to worry about if he runs for Senate.
Buchanan and Weatherford are far from the only Republicans eying Rubio's seat. State Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater and Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera (a close Rubio friend) recently met with national Republicans about a possible bid. Rep. Ron DeSantis has also been publicly considering a campaign, and there are a considerable number of other politicians who might jump in once Rubio finalizes his departure.
So far, things are far less chaotic on the Democratic side. Rep. Patrick Murphy has made it no secret that he's strongly considering running regardless of what Rubio eventually does, and his team didn't deny rumors that he'll kick off a campaign on March 23. The DSCC also hosted a meet-and-greet with Murphy on Thursday, something they probably wouldn't be doing if they didn't think he was in. Fellow Rep. Alan Grayson has also talked about joining the contest, but he's in no hurry to decide.