South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is endorsing Marco Rubio, giving the Florida senator a huge boost just days before the state’s crucial Saturday primary.
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Rubio, a first-term senator from Florida and the son of Cuban immigrants, is seeking to take second or third place in South Carolina’s Republican primary on Saturday and potentially emerge as the main Republican establishment alternative to front-runner Donald Trump, who has a big lead in the state.
The young Latino presidential candidate many top party leaders believe would be their best standard-bearer smiled and cheered, flanked by South Carolina’s Indian-American female governor, the state’s young black Republican senator and the congressman who’s led the investigation into the Benghazi attacks and Hillary Clinton’s involvement.
Polls suggest Trump continues to hold a big lead in SC and in upcoming states, as Cruz works to rally the Republican Party’s most conservative wing and Rubio tries to consolidate mainstream Republicans behind his candidacy.
Asked why she backed Rubio over Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Haley gave a classic Southern answer that as much praised one while slipping the knife to another.
Observers in the state think Rubio is the one who is on the rise in the closing hours.
The timing of Haley’s backing comes as somewhat of a surprise: as recently as Tuesday, she told reporters she had not yet made up her mind.
Trump disparaged Haley during a Wednesday evening rally, saying, “She’s very, very weak on illegal immigration”. In endorsing Marco Rubio for president, the editorially conservative Las Vegas Review-Journal noted Rubio’s deep personal connections with Nevada.
While the removal of the Confederate flag was by far the most common reason Trump supporters cited for disliking Haley, others mentioned other ways they think she’s hurt the state.
Haley said that a President Rubio can reduce federal government regulations that burden states.
According to the most recent polling, Rubio is running neck-and-neck with Sen.
Will there by a “Haley effect” in South Carolina’ Republican presidential primary?
“To me, SC will always be a place of new beginnings and fresh starts”, Rubio said.
Haley joins U.S. Sen. In fact, Haley endorsed Mitt Romney in 2012, only to see him lose to New Gingrich. “She has a national profile” and could help a candidate “all over the country”. Rubio counts his time on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as valuable experience. The following, as reported by CNN, is part of her endorsement speech. And, if endorsements were directly correlated to success in this race, then Jeb Bush would be the overwhelming front-runner.
“So I am totally content and happy in SC”. “We don’t have to go vote”.
Trump has accused Cruz of stealing a victory in Iowa by misleading Iowa voters into thinking that Carson was dropping out of the race, and that they should instead vote for Cruz.
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Rubio continued his assault against Cruz’s campaign tactics. He told the crowd that he would “take our principles to people who do not vote for us”, to those who grew up poor, “to the people who live paycheck to paycheck”.
