Rubio Vs. Murphy Debate For Florida’s Senatorial Race (Polls & Video)

Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio four times declined to unconditionally pledge to serve a full six-year term if reelected instead of running for president in 2020, pledging only to fill out his term “God willing.”

Rubio, who was debating Democratic Rep. Patrick Murphy for the first time, was asked if he planned on completing his second six-year term and not making a second bid for the presidency.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) on Monday refused to acknowledge the effects of climate change on his home state, bolstering his denial of climate change by arguing that policies to curb emissions are bad for the economy.

South Florida, including Rubio’s hometown of Miami, is already threatened by rising ocean waters caused by climate change. But at a Senate debate with his re-election challenger, the incumbent again doubted the existence of climate change.

“I am 100 percent in favor of mitigation, if in fact sea levels are rising,” Rubio said. He argued that policies to reduce carbon emissions are economically inefficient.

U.S. Senate candidates Marco Rubio and Patrick Murphy trashed each other’s legislative records in Washington — and their parties’ presidential nominees — during their first-ever debate.

Murphy, a Jupiter Democrat, attacked Rubio, the Republican incumbent, over his Senate attendance record and his support of Donald Trump, while Rubio knocked Murphy for never breaking with Hillary Clinton.

PolitiFact Florida has been fact-checking their campaign jabs and ads since the beginning. Here’s our running list of fact-checks.