Mary Lou Masters
Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida threw his support behind former President Donald Trump for 2024 on Sunday, the day prior to the Iowa caucus.
Both of Florida’s senators have now opted against endorsing Gov. Ron DeSantis, as Sen. Rick Scott backed Trump in early November. Rubio, who ran for president in 2016, announced his support in a social media post on X where he touted his achievements under Trump’s administration and argued the former president is the only leader who could “fix the disaster Biden has created.”
“When Trump was in WH I achieved major policies I had worked on for years (like expanded Child Tax Credit & tough sanctions on regime in Cuba & Venezuela) because we had a President who didn’t cave to special interests or let bureaucrats block us,” Rubio wrote. “I support Trump because that kind of leadership is the ONLY way we will get the extraordinary actions needed to fix the disaster Biden has created. It’s time to get on with the work of beating Biden & saving America!”
Rubio also decided against supporting former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, who is currently polling in second place for the 2024 nomination and previously endorsed Rubio’s presidential bid. Rubio dropped out of the race in March 2016 after coming in second place during his state’s presidential primary.
Trump has received numerous other endorsements from top Republicans leading up to Monday’s caucus, including from former presidential candidate and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and several other senators.
In Florida, Trump has secured the backing from many of the state’s Congress members, including GOP Reps. Matt Gaetz, Byron Donalds, Greg Steube, Anna Paulina Luna, Cory Mills, Carlos Giménez, Vern Buchanan and John Rutherford. DeSantis has a long list of endorsements from state legislators, including that of Senate President Kathleen Passidomo and House Speaker Paul Renner.
Trump has a massive lead over the Republican primary field in national and key early state polls, while DeSantis has slid to third place after holding the spot behind only the former president for the majority of the race, according to the RealClearPolitics (RCP) averages.
In Iowa, the former president is ahead by nearly 34 points, followed by Haley with 18.7%, DeSantis with 15.5% and conservative businessman Vivek Ramaswamy with 6.5%, according to the RCP average.
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