Marco Rubio has picked up the endorsement of former Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl with a little less than two months before the state’s presidential primary.
“I know him. I like him a lot,” Kyl told The Arizona Republic in an interview published late Monday night. “I came to respect him as a real expert in matters related to our national security. He is on the Intelligence Committee and the Foreign Relations Committee. He knows the subject very well, and he also has very good instincts about what we should do.”
Kyl, who served as Senate Minority Whip during his 18-year tenure in the Senate, overlapped with Rubio for two years. In the interview, he praised Rubio’s “sunny” and positive disposition and tone.
“He didn’t shy away from the issue. People looked to him for leadership, and he provided it,” Kyl said, referring to Rubio’s participation in the failed Gang of Eight immigration talks in 2013. “Not everybody was happy with the proposals that he actually supported, but there’s an old saying in politics: ‘You can’t get something without giving something.’ If you want to just have it your way all the time, you’re never going to get anything done.”
Rubio, who has also received the endorsements of other former senators including Tim Hutchinson of Arkansas and Phil Gramm of Texas, currently sits in third place in a RealClearPolitics average of polls with 11 percent.
The first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses are less than a week away, and Arizona’s is set for March 22.
