Republicans finally have a new option in Florida's hotly contested open seat Senate race: wealthy businessman Carlos Beruff, who officially entered the race on Thursday. Beruff, who'd been considering for about a month, is a home builder who is tight with Gov. Rick Scott and may be able to self-fund part of his campaign, though he hasn't yet said if he will.
Even if he doesn't, he should be able to fundraise better than the rest of the anemic GOP field: Beruff's donated over $600,000, mostly to Republican campaigns, since 2002, so by all rights he ought to have the kind of rich-guy network he can now rely on to return the favor. The bigger question, though, is how Beruff will pitch himself as a candidate—and how he'll be received. He's a big anti-tax crusader and has never run for office before, so he he's likely to try to campaign as an outsider and go after the more tea party-oriented vote.
But that would directly impinge on Rep. Ron DeSantis' path to the nomination, which is why DeSantis immediately launched an attack site slurring Beruff as a "Charlie Crist Republican" who supported the former governor (a hated figure in conservative circles) and has given money to Democrats. DeSantis very much wants Beruff to get lumped in with the other two major Republicans running, Rep. David Jolly and Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera, both of whom have "establishment" branded on their foreheads.
Democrats want the same thing, since DeSantis, an extremist who is a favorite of the Club for Growth, would almost certainly be the easiest candidate to beat. Of course, Democrats have a similar problem of their own, since the establishment fears Rep. Alan Grayson would cost them the race thanks to his big mouth and ethical troubles and therefore strongly prefers Rep. Patrick Murphy. But Florida's primary is not until August, so it'll be a while before we see how things play out on both sides.