Will Marco Rubio run in 2016 after Bush’s announcement?

After former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush announced on Tuesday that he is “exploring” a 2016 presidential run, eyes are now on another Republican presidential contender from Florida – Marco Rubio.

The 43-year-old senator was considered to be a frontrunner for the 2016 Republican presidential candidacy, but the tides seem to have changed now that Bush has formally declared that he will consider campaigning.

Bush and Rubio live mere miles apart, with Bush in Coral Gables and Rubio in Miami, and Rubio even considers the former governor a mentor and a “friend”.

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This may complicate matters for Rubio, as both he and Bush share many of the same supporters and financial backers.

Competing with his mentor may not deter Rubio from running, however.

“Marco has a lot of respect for Governor Bush, and believes that he would be a formidable candidate,” Alex Constant, Rubio’s spokesman, said in a statement after Bush’s announcement Tuesday. “However, Marco’s decision on whether to run for President or re-election will be based on where he can best achieve his agenda to restore the American Dream – not on who else might be running.”

According to The Miami Herald, if Bush and Rubio were to run against each other today, Bush would come out as the clear winner. Recent polls of Florida voters have shown that Bush would pull 34 percent of the GOP votes, while Rubio would only pull 10 percent.

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While Rubio has strong support among Florida Republicans, it seems like more voters would choose the more experienced 61-year-old former governor to vie for the presidency.

Both Bush and Rubio are deemed desirable candidates for many Republican voting groups in Florida, in particular the South Florida Cuban Americans.

SEE ALSO: Are Americans ready for another President Bush?

“Marco is literally one of our own, and Jeb has been adopted as one of our own,” said Mauricio Claver-Carone, the U.S.-Cuba Democracy PAC’s executive director in Washington. “Our community holds them equally in high regard. We couldn’t lose either way.”

Rubio has yet to confirm whether or not he will run for presidency, even though the dynamics of the race have shifted since Bush’s announcement.

The Republican Party feels that Bush, who has presidential blood in his veins (he is the son of former President George H. W. Bush and the brother of George W. Bush), is one of the strongest presidential candidates because of his ability to reach out to the Hispanic population.

Bush’s wife, Columba, is a native of Mexico and he is fluent in Spanish. Many Republicans believe that he may be the GOP’s best shot at appealing to the nation’s growing Hispanic population, which currently makes up 11 percent of all eligible voters and trends strongly Democratic.

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