US election: Rubio re-elected to Senate

Senator Marco Rubio, who failed in a bid for the Republican presidential nomination and retired to the race for his Senate seat, was re-elected on Tuesday to a second term.

The senator, a Cuban-American conservative, fended off a forceful challenge by Representative Patrick Murphy, 33, a Democrat who consistently portrayed Rubio as an absentee lawmaker with misplaced allegiances — first to the presidency instead of to his job, and then to Donald J. Trump.

In an election pitting two young, ambitious strivers, Rubio, who had vowed not to seek re-election to the Senate, was by far the better-known, better-financed candidate. Before his presidential race and Senate race six years ago, Rubio began his career in the Florida Statehouse, where he became speaker. But the race proved surprisingly tight as Rubio, 45, struggled to characterize his support for Trump, his onetime opponent in the presidential primary contests. Trump bested Rubio in the Florida primary and ridiculed him as “Little Marco.” Even as Rubio endorsed Trump, who is highly unpopular among Hispanics, a crucial constituency for the senator, he mostly avoided mentioning him on the stump.

The two candidates took opposite tacks on a number of issues, with Mr. Murphy supporting abortion rights, a minimum-wage increase, the Affordable Care Act and an end to the United States’ economic embargo on Cuba.