Marco Rubio Says You Won’t Be Hearing These Two Words From Him

Thursday morning, reports began circulating that U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) may be dropping out of the Republican presidential nomination race.

In an email to supporters, he quickly dismissed those rumors.

“‘Dropping Out.’ Those are words you are not going to hear me say,” he said. “This race is just beginning. The momentum surrounding our campaign has never been stronger: Just last week our campaign was polling 20 points below Donald Trump in Virginia and Tuesday we nearly tied him and won essentially the same number of delegates.”

Declaring the GOP front-runner “the media’s preferred candidate,” Rubio said the idea that Trump is running away the election just isn’t true. He said the race is narrowing, and that soon his campaign will be winning more than Trump’s.

Speculation over the future of his candidacy were fueled by reports that he had canceled campaign events in Louisiana and Kentucky ahead of this weekend’s presidential primary contests. Additionally, it’s been reported that leaders within the Republican Party establishment were frustrated by his failure to establish himself as a substantive alternative to Trump.

“The stakes of this election are even higher than they were when we started,” Rubio said in his fundraising email. “It’s not just about taking back the White House for Republicans, it’s also about making sure we have a nominee who believes in the ideals of the party of Reagan and Lincoln.

“You have my word right now: No matter how many states it takes, no matter how many weeks and months it takes, we are going to stop Donald Trump and win this election.”

Florida, which holds its winner-take-all primary in a little more than a week, will be a make-or-break moment for all of the campaigns, but particularly for Rubio’s. The senator has been maligned for his poor senate attendance record, and for supporting policies that have cost Florida residents their jobs.

But in all the previous contests, late-deciding voters have largely supported his campaign. South Florida, particularly in the Miami area, is seen as his region of broadest support, but traditionally, the area from Daytona to Tampa called the “I-4 Corridor” is the bellwether for the Sunshine State.