Fast rising GOP candidate Marco Rubio received two major endorsements yesterday. First, the Las Vegas Journal Review endorsed Rubio. The paper noted:
After much consideration, the Review-Journal is endorsing Sen. Marco Rubio for Nevada’s first-in-the-West Republican caucus on Feb. 23. The RJ met with Sen. Rubio on Oct. 9, two months before the announcement of the newspaper’s sale to the family of Las Vegas Sands Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson. The Adelsons have detached themselves from our endorsement process, and our endorsement of Sen. Rubio does not represent the support of the family.
Our reasons for endorsing Sen. Rubio are many. Notably, the Florida senator has deep personal connections to the state. He lived in the Las Vegas Valley from age 8 to age 14, the son of immigrants employed by the hotel industry. The driving force behind the 44-year-old’s compelling story is his family’s pursuit of better opportunities and a better life. The policies he champions in his campaign are intended to provide all Americans as much.
Those policies include issues of key concern for Nevadans. For example, Sen. Rubio agrees that the federal government owns too much land within Nevada’s borders — more than 80 percent — and doesn’t actively and appropriately manage that land. He believes the lack of privately owned land in Nevada and across the West greatly limits economic opportunity, and he supports transferring some federal land to private ownership. “There’s no need for Washington to hold that much land,” he told us.
On immigration, Sen. Rubio backs a reasonable approach to fix a broken system, while noting that legal immigration deserves just as much attention as illegal immigration. Among other reforms, he wants a merit-based system of legal immigration to replace today’s family-based system.
Sen. Rubio also recognizes that entitlement reform is a must if Medicare and Social Security are to avoid insolvency. “If we deal with them now, we don’t have to change them for current beneficiaries,” he said. And on economic policy, Sen. Rubio understands that everything a presidential administration does influences the economy. Tax reform and simplification (for both corporations and individuals) are just one part of his pro-growth agenda, which includes dialing back burdensome federal regulations, an energy policy that allows America to lead the world in oil and gas production, and a health care policy to replace Obamacare and give Americans the ability to tailor health insurance plans to their needs.
Electability is also in Sen. Rubio’s favor. Mr. Trump and Sen. Cruz, the leading GOP candidates at this point, have liabilities in November, when everyone has the chance to vote. Sen. Rubio has the ideas and the charisma to bring independents and moderates under the GOP tent.
Rubio is currently polling at third in Nevada, behind Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, respectively. Many view this endorsement as a sign that GOP billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson will give his financial backing to Rubio, though nothing is confirmed.
Later in the day, Rubio received an endorsement no one was expecting- that of Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. Many assumed the socially conservative Jindal would endorse Ted Cruz. Jindal noted:
“Marco can unify our party,” Jindal said on Fox News Friday. “I think he’s a principled conservative. I think he’s the right guy.”
It remains to be seen whether these endorsements will give Rubio the boost he needs to get past Trump and Cruz, but if he’s going to do that, this is a start.
AAN Staff
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