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Lopsided Polls Don't Spell A Beruff Exit

Bradenton developer Carlos Beruff says he plans to stay in the race for U.S. Senate despite less than encouraging poll numbers.
Bradenton developer Carlos Beruff says he plans to stay in the race for U.S. Senate despite less than encouraging poll numbers.

Despite an avalanche of bad news, Bradenton developer Carlos Beruff is vowing to continue fighting for the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate.

Bradenton developer Carlos Beruff says he plans to stay in the race for U.S. Senate despite less than encouraging poll numbers.
Bradenton developer Carlos Beruff says he plans to stay in the race for U.S. Senate despite less than encouraging poll numbers.

Less than two weeks ago, the Senate seat was open and Beruff faced three heavy hitters in the GOP primary, Congressmen David Jolly and Ron Desantis, and Lieutenant Governor Carlos Lopez Cantera.

But then incumbent Marco Rubio jumped in, the other three Republicans bolted, and the polls suddenly showed Rubio shellacking Beruff by 60 points or more. Beruff isn’t deterred.

“I’ve only been an underdog. And at the end of the day, it’s actually easier for me to run this race than it was before when there was too many targets.”

And Rubio is a tempting target.  His presidential bid fizzled in the Florida primary when he lost every county but his own to Donald Trump.  He missed so many Senate votes he was branded a truant.

And Beruff is eager to capitalize.

“It’s pretty clear that the voters across the country, not only in the state of Florida, but the ones I meet in the state of Florida are pretty disgruntled with the career politicians and the fact that nothing seems to get done in Washington.”

The polls may hold a ray of hope for Beruff. Congress is taking a Fourth of July recess without passing a bill to fight the dreaded Zika virus, and voters are worried.

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Jim Ash is a reporter at WFSU-FM. A Miami native, he is an award-winning journalist with more than 20 years of experience, most of it in print. He has been a member of the Florida Capital Press Corps since 1992.
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