Campaign
Rodham left the public defenders office to run for the United States Senate in Florida in 1994. He won the Democratic Party nomination by defeating Mike Wiley in a runoff election, [3] [4] after earlier finishing first in a four-person primary field with 34 percent. [4] After the first primary, the third-place finisher, flamboyant Miami lawyer and perennial losing candidate Ellis Rubin, joined forces with Rodham as a "senior executive consultant" and hatchet man. [5] In the presence of Rodham at a press conference, Rubin levelled the accusation that Wiley was hiding his Jewish faith by changing his name from his birth name, Michael Schreibman, [4] and that Wiley "changed his name before the campaign to deceive voters about his Jewish religion." Wiley accordingly refused to endorse Rodham after the runoff. [4] Rodham then lost by a 70%-30% margin to incumbent Senator Republican Connie Mack III in the general election. [6] Although Bill and Hillary Clinton both campaigned for him, his organization was unable to take advantage of their help, [7] he had few funds, almost no television commercials, and little support from the Florida Democratic party establishment in a year that saw Republican gains everywhere. [6] [8] After the election, Rubin switched allegiance again and charged Rodham with election law violations in the first primary; the Federal Election Commission eventually dismissed the allegations. [9]