ORLANDO, Florida — Rep. Cory Mills, a central Florida Republican just elected to a second term in Congress, said he will run for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Sen. Marco Rubio regardless of who Gov. Ron DeSantis picks for the post.
“You can probably guarantee my hat is going to be thrown in the ring for 2026,” Mills told reporters at the Florida Republican annual meeting being held in Orlando.
Rubio, who was elected to a third term two years ago, is stepping down because President-elect Donald Trump tapped him to become secretary of State. DeSantis will get to name someone to hold the position until 2026 when it will be on the ballot again. The 2026 winner will serve for two years before it goes before voters again.
DeSantis said this past week that he has not decided who he will pick for the spot although on Friday he strongly ruled out any consideration of appointing himself to the job. One of the leading contenders for the appointment is Attorney General Ashley Moody, a strong ally of DeSantis.
DeSantis said he wants the next senator to support Trump, push for cutting the federal debt and take strong positions on immigration, including revising the H1B visa program.
Mills is a U.S. Army veteran who has worked for a defense contractor and also formed his own security consulting firm. He was first elected in 2022 in a crowded and contentious GOP primary for a central Florida seat that was reshaped following the once-a-decade redistricting process.
Mills was one of several Florida members of Congress who endorsed Trump over DeSantis, one of the early embarrassing moments for the Republican governor in his unsuccessful quest for president.
Mills’ name had been floated as a possible contender for the Rubio seat, but he acknowledged on Saturday that he has not discussed the position with DeSantis. Still, he touted himself as a good successor to Rubio because of his focus on foreign affairs — a topic that he has discussed on frequent appearances on Fox News.
The move by Mills to seek the Senate seat means that DeSantis’ pick will not be guaranteed an easy path to reelection and may be a sign that the vacancy could spark a highly competitive and potentially expensive contest in the nation’s third-largest state.
Mills gave what could be considered a warm-up speech for a potential run on Saturday during the annual gathering of the state party, where he hinted at his future aspirations. He revved up the crowd by talking about rescue missions he organized in Israel and Afghanistan, and said that generals involved in the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan should lose their command positions.
Mills also said the nation needs to focus on “G-O-D” instead of critical race theory, or diversity efforts in the military, and effusively praised Trump and the “America First” agenda. Mills also called the national debt an “existential threat” to the United States.
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