One week ago, we wrote about the looming Florida Senate primary between Democratic Rep. Val Demings, who was clearly anointed as the favorite in the race by state and national Democrats, and Blue Dog leader Stephanie Murphy. Around 72 hours later, Murphy had announced she wouldn't seek to challenge GOP Sen. Marco Rubio after all and would run for re-election to the House instead.
While there may not have been any overt strong-arming of Murphy out of the nascent primary, the writing was on the wall as soon as Demings — who has more of a national profile due to her previous position as a 2020 impeachment manager and on President Biden's vice presidential short-list — decided she'd run for Senate instead of challenging Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2022, which initially seemed like the race she was eyeing the most.
Murphy, meanwhile, had made clear from the outset she was solely focused on the Senate contest and had begun a statewide listening campaign. And those close to her pointed out that she had a stronger history of
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