Skip to content
Breaking News Alert Georgia House Guts Bill That Would Have Given Election Board Power To Investigate Secretary Of State

After Losing Florida, Marco Rubio Officially Suspends His Campaign

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio suspended his presidential campaign Tuesday night after losing his home state to reality TV star Donald Trump.

Share

Shortly after the television networks declared New York real estate tycoon Donald Trump as the winner of the Florida Republican primary, Sen. Marco Rubio officially suspended his presidential campaign.

“This year, we will be on the right side,” Rubio told a crowd of his supporters. “But we will not be on the winning side.”

Rubio struggled to gain traction in the 2016 Republican primary. After coming in a strong third in the Iowa GOP caucuses in February, he stumbled during a key debate in New Hampshire and later finished in fifth place in the nation’s first official primary. Although he eventually won contests in Minnesota, Puerto Rico, and Washington, D.C. the junior senator from Florida never regained his footing.

In his concession speech, Rubio spoke at length about his Christian faith and his belief that no matter what happens, God is in control. As he concluded his speech, he quoted a passage from 1 Chronicles 29 in which King David praises God for all his gifts.

“Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours,” Rubio said. “In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all.”

Under the existing Republican National Committee rules governing the national nominating convention, delegates pledged to candidates who terminate or suspend their campaigns are no longer bound to those candidates. Rubio controlled roughly 170 delegates prior to the suspension of his campaign on Tuesday night.