Crist ran for the U.S. Senate in 2010; his rival in the 2010 GOP primary was state House Speaker [[Marco Rubio]], a conservative Cuban American. Crist started trailing in the polls to Rubio by large margins and in April 2010 he decided to run as a Independent since it was almost certain he would lose the Republican nomination to Rubio. He lost to Rubio anyway, by a margin of 49% to 30%, with [[Democratic Party|Democrat]] [[Kendrick Meek]] getting 20% of the vote. | Crist ran for the U.S. Senate in 2010; his rival in the 2010 GOP primary was state House Speaker [[Marco Rubio]], a conservative Cuban American. Crist started trailing in the polls to Rubio by large margins and in April 2010 he decided to run as a Independent since it was almost certain he would lose the Republican nomination to Rubio. He lost to Rubio anyway, by a margin of 49% to 30%, with [[Democratic Party|Democrat]] [[Kendrick Meek]] getting 20% of the vote. |