The Resistance may have been unsuccessful in coaxing Senator Marco Rubio into holding a town hall meeting, but they certainly inadvertently are forcing him to find digs for his Tampa office. According to the Tampa Bay Times, the senator's office was informed on February 1st that their month-to-month lease at the nine-story Bridgeport Center would be terminated due to the ongoing outside demonstrations.
Since the Trump inauguration, outbreaks of protests to include raucous Town Hall Meetings have been occurring nationwide. However, Rubio has refrained from meeting with his constituents and videos of him dodging questions have surfaced.
Nevertheless, dedicated demonstrators have vowed to assemble outside the Tampa building every Tuesday for the first 100 days of Donald Trump's presidency. Last week, constituents held an event in Tampa without him, substituting the senator with a cardboard cutout in his likeness.
You don't have to go home but you will have to get out of here
Jude Williams, the president of America's Capital Partners, which owns the property, said that while he understands the protestors' cause, the professional office building was not a place for that (demonstrations) and it was a security concern for them. He stressed it was not political but a duty to keep a good, peaceful environment for their other tenants.
Where do you go from here, and will this be a cause for concern for other politicians?
Marco Rubio has other Florida offices in Jacksonville, Orlando, Miami, Pensacola, Palm Beach and Tallahassee, but now has to find a new home for his Tampa office. Spokeswoman Christina Mandreucci told the Times that they will have a representative available to assist constituents until they can find a permanent home.
She also provided a reachable telephone number for the representative. Rubio has expressed his reluctance to attend town hall meetings because of the heckling and screaming. In 2009, the senator had a different view regarding the equally boisterous tea party rallies. The then-Senate candidate tweeted that the angry folks at the health care town halls were real and their views were shared by a growing majority.