Marco Rubio Sticks to His Promise
For weeks, it appeared that U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) was among those who would remain a #NeverTrump voter to the very end.
Some of the worst vitriol of the presidential primary season was spewed back and forth between the Florida senator and GOP nominee-in-waiting Donald Trump. Until this week, Rubio had insisted upon holding onto the 173 delegates bound to him during the early stages of the campaign.
That all changed, however, after Rubio’s interview Thursday with CNN’s Jake Tapper. During that interview, he said that not only will he attend the GOP national convention in mid-July, he would also be willing to speak on Trump’s behalf while he’s there.
“I want to be helpful, I don’t want to be harmful because I don’t want Hillary to be president,” he said.
Rubio was among the candidates who had pledged to support the eventual nominee, even if it was Trump. And while others have completely ignored that pledge, the Florida senator has followed through, even though they have a number of differences of opinion on policy issues.
Because of those differences, however, he doesn’t feel he would be a good choice as Trump’s running mate.
“In my view it wouldn’t be the right choice for him,” he told Tapper. “He deserves to have a running mate that more fully embraces some of the things he stands for.”
Shortly after the interview aired, Trump took Twitter and suggested Rubio needs to stay in politics:
Poll data shows that @marcorubio does by far the best in holding onto his Senate seat in Florida. Important to keep the MAJORITY. Run Marco!
Rubio responded, as he has from the onset of the campaign, that he will not seek re-election to his Senate seat. Florida Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera, a close personal friend, is already running in the crowded GOP primary field and has the senator’s endorsement.
“He’s focused on his campaign and I think he’s doing well, you know, he’s a good friend and I think he’d be a good senator,” he told Bloomberg News.
Should Rubio have a change of heart, however, he still has time to get in the race. The filing deadline for the primary is June 24. And, according to Politico, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has asked all of the Republican senators to convince him to get in the race.
