Marco Rubio continues to rack up endorsements from sitting or former GOP officeholders. On Monday, both Tim Pawlenty, the former governor of Minnesota and a former GOP presidential candidate, and Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona announced their support for the Florida senator’s presidential bid.
“I think it comes down to this — he’s strong, he’s also informed, he’s conservative, and he’s electable, and he can unite the party, and you can’t ask for much more than that,” Pawlenty told CNN’s Alisyn Camerota on “New Day.”
“I think he’s got the total package, and I think he’s going to bring forward the strongest voice, the strongest image, and really the most thoughtful and informed strong view about how to move this country forward from a conservative perspective.”
Flake said his Senate colleague has the “toughness necessary to bring reform to Washington.”
“In an election where serious solutions are seriously lacking, Marco Rubio has proven that he can inspire more than just anger in Americans who are looking for an alternative to the status quo,” said Flake in a statement.
The endorsements come days after Rubio galvanized supporters by placing second behind Donald Trump in the South Carolina primary, and after rival Jeb Bush dropped out of the race.
But Pawlenty dismissed the suggestion that Rubio represented the preferred candidate of the establishment, saying, “I think that’s a misreading, because Marco Rubio came of age in the tea party. He’s a bona fide movement conservative. And to say that he’s ‘establishment’ or somehow not conservative, I just don’t think is accurate. He’s bold, he’s next generation, and he’s reform-minded, change-oriented.”
Pawlenty also argued that Rubio is a better candidate than front-runner Trump, explaining, “I think what people want in Donald Trump is strength, and in Marco Rubio you get that same strength, but it’s an informed strength. And I think that’s really important, particularly when you get to issues like national security and defense issues and foreign affairs.”
Pawlenty dropped out of the race in August 2011 and eventually endorsed Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential bid.