FL-Sen: Kendrick Meek Will Run

The Hill:

Rep. Kendrick Meek (D-Fla.) is expected to announce he is running for retiring Sen. Mel Martinez’s (R-Fla.) seat on Tuesday morning, making him the first Democrat in the race.

Meek, a four-term congressman, has announced a 10 a.m. EST press conference in Miami, where Democratic sources with knowledge of his plans said he is set to announce he is entering the race.

I’m no big fan of Kendrick Meek, in no small part thanks to his non-support of our trio of Democratic challengers in South Florida this past fall, but thankfully I doubt that he’ll have a clear primary field to himself. State Sen. Dan Gelber will also announce a decision shortly, and Florida CFO Alex Sink is also weighing a run.

Open seat fans have no reason to fret — Meek’s 17th CD has an absurdly Democratic PVI of D+35.

63 thoughts on “FL-Sen: Kendrick Meek Will Run”

  1. would be a disaster really. A liberal Democrat from downtown Miami will not play well statewide. We need a stronger Democrat, preferably Alex Sink, a more moderate Democrat with a statewide profile, or at least a profile and popularity in a critical swing area of it.

    He brings nothing to the table, geographically.  

  2. Kendrick Meek, along with Delahunt (MA), Wasserman-Shultz (FL) and Ryan (OH) ranting about the illegality and unconstitutional behavior of dubya’s people (including his enablers in the House) on latenight C-Span in 2004 and 2005 were one of the few islands in the sea of insanity.

    Meek seems well spoken, intelligent, and reasonably progressive.  His decision (along with Wasserman-Shultz) not to help out 3 excellent House candidates in South Florida against the Diaz-Bohlert brothers and Iliana was despicable and wrong, but I have absolutely no problem with him as a candidate (if he has a good shot at winning) or as a Senator.

    Let’s see some early numbers, hear his positions, see how he is at fundraising, and then go from there.  It’s too early to write the guy off due to a mistake or 2 in the 2008 election season (I guarantee I can name at least several substantive errors made by any position holder anyone wants to name).

  3. I definitely think the best new Congressman from the 2008 elections is Alan Grayson in Florida. Visit his campaign website to see what I mean. If he is able to deliver what he promised then I definitely want him to be considered for the Senate, even after only 2 years. This is one disadvantage of starting the campaign so early; it doesn’t give new Congressmen enough time.

  4. Is trying to scare the others like Gelber and Sink out of this race. I imagine Meek has a fairly substantial bank account as he’s entering his 4th term in congress and has never had an opponent. BTW his lack of opponent is not figurative, Meek has never actually had an opponent.

    Its not a bad idea, running against him in a primary would be tough. He’s got a lot of money and 1/4 of the vote before campaigning even begins.

  5.    He’s not very progressive despite representing a really liberal district.  His advocacy of Hillary Clinton during the primary was nausea-inducing.  I’ve respect for most of Clinton’s advocates, but Kendrick Meek made a fool of himself.  He has poor political skills.  I’d rather a candied yam run for Senate than him.  The upside is that we’ll be rid of him after he loses the Democratic primary.  

  6. I’d be nice to have a African-American and a younger guy in the Senate but beyond that, I don’t get his appeal. I guess he’s likely to be a decent fundraiser, but beyond that he doesn’t bring a whole lot to the table. He’s got a lot of questionable votes and associations in his background that wouldn’t play well in a Democratic primary. Hopefully if Sink doesn’t get in Gelber or another Democrat takes a run at it.  

  7. I don’t really give a damn about the Senate primary. Nobody who wins it is likely to be to my taste and it’s liable to be an uphill race anyway, so my attention will be focused elsewhere.

    But Meek running for Senate means one more dynast out of a job and it means you could get a decent progressive in his House seat.

  8. Is there any actual evidence that Kendrick Meek has ever used the race card?  I know he gave Jeb Bush a hard time (and rightfully so) for trying to end affirmative action in hiring practices, but that certainly isn’t playing the race card.  I could see Alcee Hastings playing the race card, but let’s give Kendrick a chance before accusations are hurled at him just because most folks here would prefer Alex Sink.

    I know Kendrick Meek also endorsed Rod Smith over Jim Davis in a primary a couple of years ago, but could it not be argued that Smith was the more electable candidate?  I’m not from Florida of course so I just being talking out my posterior on this one.

    His background in law enforcement should attract some moderates and other folks.  Sure. Meek has taken some votes that weren’t always in the best interest of his district and it does seem he did that to advance his career, but I think anyone who runs for office is a little full of self interest and ambition.  It’s a part of human nature.

    As far as Meek having the seat handed to him, this is true.  However, I think we see him speak on the House floor quite often and the rhetoric he espouses should appeal to a lot of people.  So to say he’s inexperienced in regards to actual tough races that is true, but I think the guy is ready.

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