Loudoun County was gripped with enthusiasm for Marco Rubio on Sunday, when the presidential contender joined an overflow crowd at Patrick Henry College in Purcellville, VA in a last-minute tour of the Commonwealth prior to tomorrow’s Super Tuesday presidential preference primary.
“As you know, on Tuesday, here in Virginia, we’ll have a very important decision to make,” opened Rubio, to great applause. “The decision we’ll have to make is not just about the future of America – it is about the future of America at its core, but even before we make that decision, we have to make a decision about the future of our party, about the future of the party of Lincoln and of Reagan, about the future of the conservative movement.”
In Virginia, that decision will be made tomorrow, as voters from across the Commonwealth head to the polls. Rubio supporters face a clear challenge: Donald Trump leads the Florida Senator by double digits in all recent polls – an edge Rubio and his backers hope to overcome through better organization and a last minute appeal to the principles of the party of Lincoln and Reagan.
During his 45 minute speech, Rubio frequently drew sharp contrasts between himself and Trump as he emphasized the gravity of the race to his assembled supporters.
“Unfortunately, this has been a very different election year, and things have worked out in ways no one anticipated,” said Rubio. “And as a result, today, the Republican Party, the conservative movement, the party of Lincoln and Reagan, is on the verge of potentially nominating a con artist.”
“We cannot get this election wrong. We cannot nominate someone who is going to lose,” Rubio emphasized, as he explained his decision to “unmask the true nature” of Donald Trump at last Thursday’s debate – to roaring applause from the assembled crowd.
Rubio’s vision for a growth-oriented Republican party was supported by other Republican leaders in attendance, including former Governor and U.S. Senator George Allen, as well as Congresswoman Barbara Comstock, whose Tenth Congressional District played host to Sunday’s rally.
“As my hero Ronald Reagan said, ‘it is a time for choosing’,” remarked the former Governor, who has endorsed Rubio for the nomination. “Can this person win and unite the Republican Party and get more young people, more independents, to join our conservative cause of liberty? Marco Rubio is the embodiment of the American Dream.”
Recalling advice from his father, Allen continued, “The future is now,” laying out, in his words, how Marco’s “aspiring, positive, constructive agenda” is best positioned to bring a new generation of conservatives into the Republican Party, helping to “get America moving in the right direction” after eight years of the failed policies of President Barack Obama.
“And most importantly, he will win and govern with integrity.”
Congresswoman Barbara Comstock joined Rubio in her district, the latest boost from her in her longstanding support for the Senator from Florida.
“He is the only candidate in the Republican race right now who understands the national security threats that we face,” said Comstock, recalling her experience with the record of her fellow legislator. “I have seen Marco Rubio in Congress leading on these national security issues, on the foreign affairs committee, on the intel committee.”
“He also is working to get tax relief for our businesses and our families. He not only wants to lower taxes on businesses, he wants to double the child tax credit.”
Comstock emphasized the need to nominate Rubio as a candidate who can unify and grow the party on its path to victory in November. Republican strategists are in near-universal agreement that the GOP nominee must win Virginia, Florida, and Ohio in order to clinch the White House. In Comstock’s opinion, Rubio is that candidate.
“The reason I am supporting Marco Rubio is he is the candidate who can win Virginia because he understands your families. He has won in a diverse, tough swing state like Florida, and he can do it here in Virginia.”
Following a long road on the campaign trail for Rubio, Comstock hopes her advocacy and well-earned reputation among her constituents will help push Rubio to victory in the race’s five way field by boosting margins in her critical Tenth Congressional District – home to voters whose demographics are heavily favorable to Rubio’s campaign.
She believes Rubio to be exactly the candidate who can “turn this country around and get us back on the path to prosperity, living the American dream, and having a country where all of our allies can trust us once again, and our enemies will respect us.”
The overflow crowd was confirmed to number in excess of 3500 assembled supporters, according to Eventbrite check-in numbers provided by the Rubio campaign to Bearing Drift.
Unlike many other Republican events, Rubio drew a disproportionately young crowd, giving hope to his supporters that increased youth turnout would close the gap with frontrunner Donald Trump. Though Trump enjoys a distinct advantage in the polls, these polls traditionally undersample the youth vote, as younger voters are less likely to own the land line telephones which have for decades been the mainstay of traditional pollsters.
If anyone can close the gap with Trump, it’s the Senator from Florida. While Trump has been busy rewriting the political playbook through an unconventional campaign and an unconventional message drawing in Democrats and independents, Rubio is also aiming to rewrite the Republican playbook through his strong appeal to young conservatives – a group traditionally underrepresented in Republican nominating contests.
In his speech, Rubio criticized Trump repeatedly for divisive and offputting remarks, the latest of which saw Trump refusing to condemn white supremacist David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan following the racist figurehead’s endorsement of Trump’s campaign.
“We cannot be a party who nominates someone who refuses to condemn white supremacists and the Ku Klux Klan,” said Rubio. “Not only is that wrong, it makes him unelectable. How are we going to grow our party with a nominee who refuses to condemn the Ku Klux Klan?”
Following his criticism of Trump, Rubio turned his attention to a host of policy issues which he felt have received less attention than warranted following the ascent of Trump’s policy-light style of campaigning.
On Hillary Clinton:
“She is not above the law. No one is above the law. She’s actually disqualified from being commander-in-chief, because tragically, on the eleventh of September, the year 2012, four Americans lost their lives in the service of our country in Benghazi, Libya, and Hillary Clinton knew that they died because of a terrorist attack. She told their families that they died because of a movie, because of a Youtube video. She lied to them. Anyone who lies to the families of Americans who have lost their lives in the service of our country can never be commander-in-chief.”
On Rubio’s Contrast with Barack Obama:
“For the first time in eight years, when I’m President, America will have a president that actually follows the Constitution.”
“For the first time in eight years, when I’m President, we will have a President who defends your Second Amendment right to protect yourself and your family.”
“When I’m President of the United States, you will have a President for the first time in a long time that understands that the solutions to many of our nation’s problems are not found in Washington, D. C. – they’re found in our homes, and in our communities, and in the state level of government.”
“When I take the Oath of Office I actually am going to mean it, and that’s why as soon as I take the Oath of Office, I’m going straight to the Oval Office and I will immediately repeal every single one of Barack Obama’s unconstitutional executive orders.”
“You will have a President for the first time in eight years that believes in free enterprise instead of big government takeovers of our economy. Free enterprise works. I can say that to you as the son of a bartender and a maid – of two working people who had a job because free enterprise works.”
“Free enterprise works. It is the only economic model in the history of the world where you can make poor people richer and you don’t have to make rich people poorer.”
“You will have a President for the first time in eight years who believes and follows the Constitution.”
“You will have a President that will, for the first time in eight years, be a real commander-in-chief of the United States of America. That is the most important job of the President – and this President that we have now is a terrible commander-in-chief.”
“When I am President of the United States, we are going to undertake a Reagan-style rebuilding of the US Military.”
“When I’m president of the United States, the VA benefits are not going to belong to the government, they are going to belong to our veterans. You will be able to take your VA benefit to any doctor or any hospital you want to go to.”
Rubio closed by echoing the his background and family’s story, upon which he has built a positive campaign appealing to the tens of millions of Americans concerned for the future of their own families.
“For me America is not just the country I was born in. For me, this is the country which changed the history of my family. My parents were both born in poor families,” said Rubio.
“They came here in 1956 in search of a better life. They barely spoke any English. The first words my father learned in English were, ‘I’m looking for a job.’”
Just before his exit, Rubio made one final pitch to his assembled supporters, saying, to tremendous applause, “I need your vote this Tuesday, and I need you to get your friends to vote for me on Tuesday, because remember, friends do not let friends vote for con artists.”
“We will win this election, and we will turn this country around, and we will leave for our children what our parents left for us: the single greatest nation in the history of all mankind.”
In less than 36 hours, Virginians will know the results of this very high-stakes primary. While Rubio must deliver a strong finish to close the gap with Trump, if any campaign can do it, it’s Rubio’s.
Regardless of the outcome, Virginia’s Republicans face the monumentous responsibility of recapturing the White House in November. For Republicans, all roads to the Presidency lead through Virginia.
“Everybody in this room, including myself, and everybody around, has a tremendous responsibility millions of Americans do not have,” explained Virginia Republican Chairman John Whitbeck, in his call for unity, enthusiasm, and volunteerism for the party as a whole. “We cannot win the presidency without winning Virginia. Period.”
