The Orlando Sentinel endorsed Florida Sen. Marco Rubio for president on Friday, saying it could be “the last chance for party voters to throw up a roadblock in billionaire businessman Donald Trump’s march to the GOP nomination.”
“We recommend Florida Republicans cast their ballots for another Sunshine State leader, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio. Unlike Trump, Rubio has the knowledge and judgment to be president,” the paper’s editorial board wrote.
Although it acknowledged Trump’s appeal as an outsider, the paper said his judgments and his statements cannot be trusted.
“Trump also has trouble with the truth. Politifact analyzed 77 statements from him in 2015 and rated three-quarters as mostly false, false or pants-on-fire lies.” It added, “He has maligned Mexican immigrants and Muslims. He has mocked people with disabilities and prisoners of war. He has disparaged and degraded women.”
And the lack of details from Trump’s policy plans is another reason why the Central Florida publication is backing Rubio, who they applauded for his willingness to confront budget deficits and his support for free trade that “generates thousands of jobs and billions of economic activity in the Sunshine State.”
The Sentinel also took the time to knock presidential hopeful Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
“Ted Cruz is an ideologue known for leading the 2013 government shutdown. He’s so toxic that not even one of his Senate colleagues has stepped forward to endorse him. Nor would we,” the paper wrote.
Alex Conant, a spokesman for Rubio, said the campaign appreciates the paper’s endorsement and vowed to win Florida later this month.
“He is the one candidate who can unite Republicans, grow the conservative movement, and win the White House,” Conant said in a statement.
The backing comes one day after the Miami Herald endorsed Rubio for president, which called Rubio a “consistent favorite among traditional conservative organizations.”
“The nominee should be the candidate who wins the hearts and votes of Republican rank-and-file members, not someone the ‘establishment’ anoints. The only way the nominee can win in November is by unifying the GOP and appealing to Democrats and independents,” the Herald’s editors wrote.
Floridians will cast their primary ballots on March 15.