Election results 2016: Marco Rubio wins re-election to Senate — paving way for 2020 presidential campaign

Senator Marco Rubio has been declared the winner of his US Senate race in Florida, a victory that will send him back to the upper chamber of Congress for a second term and position him potentially to make a second run for the White House in 2020.

Mr Rubio, who dropped out of this year's battle for the Republican nomination after losing his own Florida to Donald Trump, had originally said that by by running for president he had decided to forgo trying for a new term in the Senate.

He later changed his mind under intense pressure from the Republican Party who believed that his popularity in his own state as well as his strong name recognition would make Florida a sure hold as they sought avenues to prevent the Democrats from taking away their Senate majority.

The news that he had been projected the winner was met by loud boos at a meeting of Hispanic Democrats in the Miami area, an interesting display of disdain for a candidate even though he is himself a Cuban-American.

His prospects had seemed more or less secure for several weeks as his Democrat rival, Patrick Murphy, lagged in the polls, hampered by a far less impressive war-chest to fight a campaign in a state that has some of the most expensive media markets in the country.

If Mr Trump goes on to the lose the presidential night, Mr Rubio will surely use his return to the Senate to try to regain his early standing as the likely future standard-bearer of his party, notwithstanding his disappointing primary performance this year, banking on his youth.

He would surely also benefit if the Republican turns in on itself and blames a Trump defeat on the failure of the party one more time to bring Hispanics into the fold. Mr Rubio will very likely find himself competing for pole position in the party with Senator Ted Cruz, also of Cuban heritage who was the last one standing against Mr Trump for the 2016 nomination.

For a brief moment after his loss of the Sunshine State by a wide margin in March, it seemed that Mr Rubio’s once bright political glow may have been dimmed for good. Tuesday night’s victory will clearly go a long way to restoring it, however.

It may not have a great impact on the wider struggle for control of the US by the Democrats, who long ago discounted Florida as a state they were unlikely to capture.