Toomey endorses Marco Rubio
Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey plans to endorse Marco Rubio for president, according to Politico, getting behind a fellow senator who has vaulted to the front of the pack of the so-called “establishment” Republican candidates.
WASHINGTON – Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey endorsed Marco Rubio for president Wednesday, choosing sides in a Republican primary that has sharply divided the party establishment from its restive base, and which could have a major impact on Toomey's own re-election bid.
In backing Rubio, Toomey aligned himself with a fellow senator who has vaulted to the front of the pack of the so-called "establishment" Republican candidates.
Toomey said he told Rubio last week he would endorse him, and praised the Florida Senator's national security credentials and broader message.
"He's got a very uplifting and optimistic, and contagiously optimistic, ability to communicate with people and to unite not just the Republican party but the Amrican people generally," Toomey said in a conference call with Pennsylvania reporters.
Many Pennsylvania Republicans and Toomey allies worry that the hard-right Ted Cruz or divisive Donald Trump could make the GOP toxic with Pennsylvania swing voters, and sink Toomey's chances of re-election this November. Toomey downplayed that potential impact, saying it's too hard to predict what effect any nominee might have on other GOP candidates.
"That really wasn't a calculus for me," he said. "For me, this is about who will be a great president and who will have a very good chance of winning the presidency."
Rubio, after surging to a third place finish in Iowa, is now seen as mainstream Republicans' best chance to stop Cruz and Trump – though he'll need a strong showing in the New Hampshire primary Feb. 9. Support from fellow Senators like Toomey and South Carolina's Tim Scott, who endorsed Rubio earlier in the week, could help the Floridian consolidate his position.
Toomey said the timing was down to logistics, and not political strategy.
Politico first reported Toomey's endorsement, and the senator announced it himself on CNN.
Rubio's campaign also sent out a release touting growing momentum in Pennsylvania, and promising "additional endorsements later this week and in the coming weeks."
Rubio had already picked up several endorsements in Pennsylvania, including from Republican national committeeman Bob Asher, House Speaker Mike Turzai and Chester County GOP chairman Val DiGiorgio. He has made major fundraising inroads in the state as well.
Rubio, his Pennsylvania supporters argue, would at the very least keep the presidential contest close in the commonwealth, and give Toomey a chance to overcome the Democratic voter surge that typically arrives with races for the White House. Many of Rubio's supporters hail the Florida Senator as the kind of young, exciting candidate who could expand the party's appeal beyond its aging, largely-white base.
Democrats have roughly one-million more registered voters in Pennsylvania than Republicans do, so GOP candidates running statewide have to rely on moderate swing voters to win. Those voters, Republican operatives worry, could be turned off by the acerbic Cruz or bombastic Trump – though Cruz's backers say he would bring a surge of conservatives, helping the Republican ticket.
Democrats have won Pennsylvania in six straight presidential elections, but GOP senators have managed to win re-election during several of those races anyway – always amid presidential contests that remain relatively close.
A Democratic blow out in Pennsylvania would make Toomey's re-election challenge much steeper.
Three Democrats are running to challenge him: Braddock Mayor John Fetterman, Katie McGinty, the former chief-of-staff for Gov. Wolf, and former congressman and Admiral Joe Sestak.
McGinty's campaign said Rubio and Toomey have both pushed an agenda that "will hurt Pennsylvania middle class families." McGinty has endorsed Hillary Clinton in the Democratic contest.
Fetterman has endorsed Bernie Sanders.
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