U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio’s supporters wouldn’t let him be heard. They cheered. They chanted his name.
Packed before a stage bearing the candidate and his family, they didn’t want to hear what they knew he’d say: It’s over.
Rubio pulled the plug on his presidential campaign Tuesday night, the certainty of his crushing loss in the Florida primary known only 11 minutes after the last polling places closed.
“While we are on the right side this year,” he told his supporters gathered at Florida International University, “we will not be on the winning side.”
Once described as the Republican Party’s savior, Rubio, who has sworn off running for re-election to the seat he now occupies, will hold no elected office when his term ends in January.
He told supporters it isn’t God’s will for him to win the presidency in 2016 “or maybe ever.”
Celebrity mogul Donald Trump, whom Rubio and others have described as a vulgar menace to the GOP and a drag on its prospects to recapture the White House in November, collects the 99 delegates Rubio desperately needed to get back into the thick of the race.
For Rubio, the loss smashed hopes that he could find some of the magic that propelled him past then-Gov. Charlie Crist in 2010. Crist had the backing of the GOP establishment and led for a time in the polls, but Rubio clawed his way back into the race and earned an upset victory.
There would be no such comeback Tuesday night. Florida proved to be only a whistle stop for the Trump train.
“America is in the middle of a real political storm, a tsunami,” Rubio said. “We should have seen this coming.”
Many others did, though the Rubio campaign plugged along in the final days before the primary.
During a rally at Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach Monday, campaign co-chairman Adam Hasner didn’t equivocate when asked how things would go on primary day.
“We’re going to win,” he said.
Rubio underscored that tone during his own remarks.
“I’m telling you, if we win Florida tomorrow night, we don’t just get 99 delegates,” he said to cheers, “we get a surge they won’t be able to stop.”
Such a surge continuously eluded the telegenic, Spanish-speaking senator.
His backers claimed he had “Marco-mentum” after his third-place showing in the Iowa caucuses. He seemed poised to do well in the New Hampshire primary that followed, given that Iowa had long seemed like friendlier turf to his more religiously conservative rivals like U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas or retired neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson.
But Rubio stumbled badly during a debate held before the New Hampshire primary. Pressed by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Rubio froze before repeating himself over and over.
Christie’s attack made Rubio appear robotic and pre-programmed. Rubio finished fifth in New Hampshire, and, when the race returned to more religiously conservative ground, he again found himself losing contests to Trump and Cruz.
Rubio did win a trio of nominating contests – a caucus in Minnesota and primaries in the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
His campaign tried to use the Puerto Rico win to argue that he was best positioned to broaden the appeal of the GOP and defeat Trump, whose comments have drawn widespread condemnation for being racist, sexist and xenophobic.
But Trump proved to be a vexing thorn in Rubio’s side. He mocked Rubio as “Little Marco” and noted that he was racking up primary wins while the senator was foundering.
That dynamic didn’t change Tuesday night.
Rubio tried to lift the spirits of his disappointed campaign workers.
“There’s nothing more you could have done,” he said.
As he had in the final days of his campaign, Rubio criticized the harshly personal tone of the campaign.
Rubio had briefly fired back at Trump in the personal tones the mogul used to mock his opponents, a shift that was noticeable and disappointing to some of his supporters.
The senator himself said he is glad he quickly decided not to try to match Trump’s verbal taunts.
“I chose a different path, and I’m proud of that,” he said.
About the Author
