Marco Rubio looks to endear himself to Donald Trump amid running-mate search

Over the past few weeks, Marco Rubio has refused to commit to accepting the results of the November 2024 presidential election, signed onto a letter vowing to block President Joe Biden’s judicial nominations and compared Donald Trump’s felony conviction in New York to the show trials carried out in the aftermath of the Cuban Revolution.

With the former president floating his name as a potential running mate, Rubio appears to be ramping up his appeals to Trump World.

Rubio’s recent maneuvering underscores how the one-time Trump rival is now working to endear himself to the former president, who’s expected to announce his vice presidential pick ahead of – or even during – the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee next month.

People familiar with Trump’s deliberations said that Rubio is among a few favorites for the job, but cautioned that the former president hasn’t made a final decision and could pick someone whom he hasn’t publicly floated as a contender.

Still, Rubio appears to be making overtures. During a combative appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” last month, Rubio said that he could not commit to accepting the results of the November presidential race, holding out the possibility of “an unfair election.” He went on to repeat several false claims about the 2020 election, including allegations of “illegal drop box locations” and ballot-harvesting schemes.

His comments were a notable departure from his rhetoric a few years ago, when he voted in the Senate to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election despite Trump’s efforts to overturn the results. At the time, Rubio said that “democracy is held together by people’s confidence in the election and their willingness to abide by its results.”

Asked on “Meet the Press” about his votes to certify the election results more than three years ago, Rubio insisted that “at that stage in the process, you have no options.”

To be sure, Rubio is far from a Trump critic. While the two sparred bitterly during the 2016 Republican presidential primary contest, Rubio made amends with Trump shortly after the former president took office and largely voted in line with his policy positions in the Senate.

And some Republicans said that Trump’s decision on a vice president is likely to be based less on perceived loyalty and more on what he believes his running mate can bring to the ticket. Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants and a fluent Spanish speaker, could help Trump make further inroads with Hispanic voters, they said.

“Trump’s always going to be the main draw. The question is: Does he believe that these individuals – whether we’re talking about Marco Rubio or Tim Scott or Byron Donalds or whoever – can bring new voters into his coalition?” former U.S. Republican Rep. Carlos Curbelo, who is from Miami, said. “That is all he cares about. He’s not looking for a good partner in governing the country, he’s looking to win. Period.”

Rubio is also taking a more subtle approach to the running-mate contest than some of his rivals. Unlike other contenders – like U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio or North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum – Rubio never attended Trump’s criminal trial in Manhattan. And he hasn’t made a point of appearing at Trump’s campaign rallies or frequenting Mar-a-Lago, the former president’s Palm Beach club where he holds court for Republicans seeking his favor.

Yet Rubio has sought to put himself in Trump’s gaze in other ways. After the former president was convicted of 34 criminal charges related to hush-money payments to a porn star who testified she had sex with Trump, Rubio took to Fox News to compare the jury’s decision to the show trials in Cuba that took place in the aftermath of Fidel Castro’s revolution.

“This is what I grew up having people in the community tell me about,” Rubio said. “It happened in the days after the Castro revolution. Obviously, those led to executions. This, on the other hand, is an effort to interfere in an election.”

And just this week, Rubio went on Spanish-language television to defend Trump’s claim that immigrants entering the U.S. illegally are “poisoning the blood” of America.

“I believe that when he speaks that way, what he’s saying is that this is a danger to the country,” Rubio said on Noticias Telemundo. “He’s not talking in an ethnic or racial way. He’s talking about how no country can withstand 10 or 11 million people across three and a half years of irregular, uncontrolled, complete chaos on the border. No country allows it.”

Republicans say there are plenty of upsides to choosing Rubio. He’s spent roughly a quarter-century in public office, speaks Spanish and could help sooth some moderates’ concerns over the possibility of a second Trump presidency. He also has experience advising Trump on foreign policy, particularly when it comes to Latin America.

There’s also the age factor. At just 52, Rubio could add an air of youth to the presidential match-up between 77-year-old Trump and 81-year-old Biden.

“We keep talking about the age of these two guys, and when it gets closer and closer and closer, I think the vice presidential choice this time around might have more influence than ever before,” said Brad Coker, a pollster for Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy. “Rubio meets that threshold, no question about it.”

But there are also concerns about Rubio. Coker argued that the U.S. senator wouldn’t bring much of a political advantage to the Republican ticket, given that Republicans have already made massive gains in Florida in recent years and there’s little, if any, concern within the GOP that Trump will lose the Sunshine State in November.

There’s also a potential constitutional issue. The 12th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution forbids electors from voting for both a president and vice president from their own state. If Trump and Rubio remain Florida residents, it could mean that Florida’s 30 electors couldn’t cast their votes for both candidates.

“They aren’t allowed to vote for two people from the same state that they come from, so hypothetically you couldn’t vote for both Mr. Trump and Mr. Rubio, or at least the Florida electors couldn’t,” Kevin Wagner, a political science professor at Florida Atlantic University, said.

It’s unclear if Rubio would be willing to relinquish his Florida residency if he’s tapped as Trump’s running mate. The senator’s office did not respond to the Miami Herald’s request for comment, though The New York Times has reported that Rubio is open to the possibility of leaving the state.

Kevin Cabrera, a Miami-Dade County commissioner who served as the Florida state director of Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign, said that choosing Rubio for the Republican ticket would be historic. If Trump ultimately taps him for the job, the Florida senator would be the first Hispanic vice-presidential nominee on a major party ticket. That could give Trump an edge as he looks to rally the support of Hispanic voters in November, Cabrera said.

“President Trump respects and deeply admires the Hispanic community,” he said. “It’s why Trump is going to be the first Republican President to win the Hispanic vote.”