Sen. Mitch McConnell again tried to nudge Marco Rubio to run for his seat. | AP Photo McConnell prods Rubio again on Senate run

Assessing Republicans' chances for hanging on to the Senate come November, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday offered another not-so-subtle push to get Marco Rubio to reconsider his decision not to seek reelection.

McConnell, speaking to The Huffington Post's Howard Fineman in a Facebook video chat, said that Donald Trump being his party's presidential nominee would not necessarily have a detrimental effect on senators seeking reelection.


"I mean, think we were going to have a challenging cycle anyway. Most of your readers or viewers know red and blue states, and there are purple states that can go either way," McConnell continued, noting races in "purple states" like New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Nevada, Colorado and in Florida.

Rubio has repeatedly said he would not seek another term after losing the Republican presidential primary, citing his family and unwillingness to run against his friend and Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera.

In Florida, McConnell added, "we hope our candidate will end up being Marco Rubio."

The comments are just the latest occasion of McConnell publicly urging Rubio to reconsider his thinking and come just a day after the Florida senator appeared on Hugh Hewitt's radio program, where the conservative host suggested that the Sunday terrorist attack in Orlando, Florida, should change his mind.

"I haven’t even given a thought in that perspective other than to say that I’ve been deeply impacted by it and I think when it visits your home state, when it impacts a community you know well, it really gives you pause to think a little bit about your service to your country and where you can be most useful to your country," Rubio said Monday.