Florida Sen. Marco Rubio may be getting a reprieve from Democratic attack ads as Senate Minority Harry Reid & Co. retreat to a smaller playing field in their quest to retake the upper chamber.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee just cancelled an ad buy meant for Rubio’s challenger, Democrat Rep. Patrick Murphy.

The ad buy was seen as crucial timing, as mail-in ballots start to hit mailboxes in early October, followed by early voting later in the month.

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On Tuesday, the DSCC pulled an ad buy scheduled for Sept. 20 through Sept. 26. The ad buy was seen as crucial timing, as mail-in ballots start to hit mailboxes in early October, followed by early voting later in the month.

The Miami Herald said the Democrats planned as far back as April to spend $10 million on ads in support of their Democratic nominee. Back then, Rubio wasn’t even supposed to be in the race.

Rubio was running for president, and said he would not run for a second term. It gave Democrats an open seat to target.

After Donald Trump became the presumptive presidential nominee in May, Rubio was heavily lobbied to seek re-election in time for Florida’s late August primary. Trump himself urged Rubio to run for re-election.

Rubio won the GOP primary with 72 percent of the vote and more than 1 million votes.

[lz_table title=”Rubio versus Murphy, Recent Polls” source=”Real Clear Politics”]
|PPP (D)
Rubio, 40%
Murphy, 37%
|Florida Atlantic University
Rubio, 44%
Murphy, 39%
|Monmouth University
Rubio, 48%
Murphy, 43%
|FOX 13/Opinion Savvy
Rubio, 45%
Murphy, 43%
[/lz_table]

The ad pull follows news Wednesday that Democrats pulled a huge sum, $3 million, out of ads for former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, the Democratic candidate angling to take down incumbent Sen. Rob Portman.

Portman has proven to be resilient in his battle, running an aggressive grassroots campaign and finding tremendous fundraising success.

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In Florida, Murphy is unable to get past Rubio, partly because of allegations he faked his resume. Republicans are slamming him on Florida TV for inflating his credentials.

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The withdrawal from Florida and Ohio may suggest Democrats are shifting attention and resources out of two large and expensive states to focus on more vulnerable Republican incumbent senators, including Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin.

The RealClearPolitics average of polls has Rubio up over Murphy by 3.8 percent.