One day after disappointing results in Michigan and Mississippi, Sen. Marco Rubio’s campaign sent out a fundraising appeal Wednesday with the subject line: “We will lose.”
Despite recent chatter about his own campaign’s demise, the campaign — under Rubio’s name — was referring to the potential loss of the conservative movement if Donald Trump wins the Republican nomination. In recent days, multiple outlets have floated that the campaign has internally discussed dropping out before the Florida primary, although the campaign has shot down those reports emphatically.
“Friend, there’s no other way to say this: we will lose,” the fundraising solicitation opens.
“If we hand the conservative movement over to Donald Trump by making him the Republican nominee, we will lose,” the email read. “It will be the most devastating setback in the history of our movement — and once that happens we may never have time to correct the course our country is on today.”
It continued, “A new poll out today shows that if Donald Trump becomes our nominee, he will lose to Hillary Clinton by 13 points, the most catastrophic electoral landslide in decades. It will be a total repudiation of the conservative agenda by the American people. We will lose all of the gains we have made since the Reagan Revolution.”
The solicitation went on to tell supporters that many issues are “on the line” — including the Second Amendment, traditional values and freedom from government overreach.
“If Donald Trump were to win Florida next week, he takes a huge step toward being our nominee, and the disaster that will follow. But it doesn’t have to be that way. If you help me win in Florida, I will be our party’s nominee, I will unite our conservative movement, and I will win in November.” Rubio said before asking supporters to chip in to help him win Florida.
The appeal was sent less than 24 hours after the Florida senator underwhelmed in Mississippi and Michigan, where he won only 5 and 9 percent support, respectively.
Rubio has made it known that he expects to win in the Sunshine State, having predicted victory multiple times over the past week. However, polls show him significantly behind Trump, with the real estate mogul currently holding a 15.8 point advantage, according to the RealClearPolitics average.
