Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) “refused to commit to serving a full six-year term in the Senate should he win reelection,” Politico reports.

Said Rubio: “No one can make that commitment because you don’t know what the future’s gonna hold in your life personally or politically.”

Politico: “Now, Republicans smell blood in the water, and they’re looking to damage Murphy so badly that Democrats are forced to spend heavily on his behalf ahead of the state’s Aug. 30 primary — or abandon the race altogether. The GOP is adopting a strategy that’s been used against it repeatedly in recent election cycles: Propping up a politically toxic, outside-the-mainstream candidate in the other party’s primary, in this case firebrand liberal Rep. Alan Grayson.”

“The reversal of fortunes in Florida could hardly have come at a better time for Republicans, after weeks of negative headlines about their presumptive presidential nominee, Donald Trump, and increasing concerns about a down-ballot disaster for the party.”

Harry Enten: “Marco Rubio’s decision to run for re-election to his U.S. Senate seat, which he announced Wednesday morning, gives Republicans a boost in their bid to retain control of the Senate. But it also sheds light on how Rubio views his political future and how Republican Senate candidates in swing states might act toward Donald Trump.”

Washington Post: Inside the Republican courtship of Marco Rubio

Interestingly, Smart Politics notes that since 1972, “all seven sitting U.S. Senators who ran for reelection in the cycle of their failed presidential bid won another term – each by double digits.”

“In a major reversal highlighting Republican fear over losing the Senate majority and his own ambition, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) will break a longstanding promise not to seek re-election, becoming an instant favorite but facing the challenge of running in a presidential year featuring Donald Trump,” the Tampa Bay Times reports.

Miami Herald: “National Republicans fearful of losing Senate control to Democrats mounted a campaign to keep Rubio on the ballot for Florida’s swing seat. He consented just two days before Friday’s state candidate-qualifying deadline.”

New York Times: “The senator has told colleagues and advisers that he would like to run for president again, either in 2020 or 2024. But he increasingly came to believe that doing so from the private sector would be difficult.”

For members: Rubio Not Favored In Florida’s Senate Race

Washington Post: “An online ad released Friday by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee previews the sort of campaign Rubio can expect to endure should he decide to reverse the decision, made when he entered the presidential race last year, to forego re-election to run for president.”

“The ad highlights the scores of votes and committee hearings Rubio missed while pursuing the presidency, the repeated pledges he made during that campaign not to return to the Senate and his vote in December against a Democratic proposal to bar suspected terrorists from purchasing guns.”