Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he will "absolutely not" name himself to replace Marco Rubio in the U.S. Senate after the state's senior senator becomes secretary of state.
During an event in Jacksonville, Florida, on Friday, DeSantis was asked whether he would consider himself to fill Rubio's seat once the senator is, as expected, confirmed for his new position by the upper chamber.
"Absolutely not," DeSantis said. "It's funny, you know, these people write these things … and anytime they're talking about anything I'm doing, they're just making it up, right?"
"I mean, they'll talk to someone because [they'll] say, 'Oh, someone familiar with the governor's thinking.' Understand, that means they don't know what the hell they're talking about. That means somebody is saying, 'Well, I know how the governor thinks. He's probably saying this.' So they try to do grist for the mill."
He pointed out media reports suggesting people who are under consideration to replace Rubio.
"Oh, this person's leading, this person's that. It's all made up, and they're just guessing," DeSantis said. "And look, it isn't that hard to guess 10 plausible people; like, there's some pretty obvious people who would be in that mix, right? But they do."
The governor said he "got a kick off" a report that said he had removed himself from consideration.
"I was never in consideration for that," he said. "Trust me, we're doing well here, and we're going to continue to do that. And so, it was never something that I considered."
DeSantis commended Rubio for remaining in the Senate until Trump takes office officially.
"I told people we would [fill Rubio's seat] in the first half of January, and I think we're probably on course to do that, but clearly we will have somebody in place ready to go on Jan. 20. I think it's important," he said.
"I don't want to see a gap for the state of Florida in terms of the Senate. But we do not have a vacancy right now, because I think he's doing the right thing by continuing to serve until he actually is officially appointed."
DeSantis said he'll make an announcement on filling Rubio's seat near Trump's inauguration Jan. 20.