That Demings is considering a challenge to Rubio came as a surprise to many Democrats, who largely expected her to mount a bid for governor instead. Since then, a number of her would-be primary opponents have backed away from the Senate race, easing Demings’s path to the party’s nomination and soothing Democrats’ concerns of a long and bruising primary campaign.
But Democrats acknowledge that Rubio won’t be easy to beat for a number of reasons. For one, he’s already been reelected twice, most recently in 2016 when he made a late entrance into the race following a failed bid for the Republican presidential nomination.