Marco Rubio Has His Sights Set On The Senate
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- Marco Rubio slept in his own bed in West Miami - following his announcement to drop out of the presidential race.
The Florida Senator lost to GOP front-runner Donald Trump in the Florida primary which was do-or-die for his campaign.
On his first day off the campaign trail, staffers said Rubio was not available to talk but he had his sights set on the next thing.
They said his foremost priority was to return to the Senate and serve out his term. He is also a lawyer so he can practice law as well.
Following the loss in his home state the night before, Rubio decided to suspend his campaign.
"I want to congratulate Donald Trump on a big victory in Florida," said Rubio to supporters in Miami Tuesday night.
"While it is not God's plan that I be President in 2016 or maybe ever, and while today while today my campaign is suspended, the fact that I've even come this far is event of how special America truly is and all the reason more while we must do all that we can to ensure that this nation remains a special place. I ask the people do not give in to the fear, do not give in to the frustration."
Rubio called it a sign of the times. A culmination of a do nothing Congress and an America fed up with it.
"In 2010, the Tea Party wave carried me and others into office because not enough was happening and that Tea Party wave gave Republicans a majority in the House. But nothing changes. In 2014 those same voters gave Republicans a majority in the Senate and still nothing changed. And I blame some of that on the conservative movement."
Exit polls in Florida showed Republicans are furious and showed it with their vote.
Trump won every demographic and 60 percent said they felt betrayed by the Republican party.
Even at his concession speech, Rubio couldn't escape the anger and Trump's reach.
"America is in the middle of a real political storm, a real tsunami, and we should have seen this coming. People are angry and people are very frustrated," he said.
But Dr. Sean Foreman, a Barry University political science professor, said "it wasn't Trump or Cruz or Kasich" who doomed Rubio's campaign.
It was one word, Foreman said: "Amnesty."
Foreman said Rubio's failed attempt at immigration reform alienated him from his conservative base.
"They just couldn't get past the fact that he was willing to grant citizenship to people who broke the law," Foreman said.
Foreman said Rubio, addicted to politics, could run for a number of offices in the future, speculating that the 2018 Florida governor's race might be a good choice for a possible comeback.
He made no indication of who he would support moving forward but he did say that the guy who beat him in Florida is doing it all wrong.
Click here to read more about Campaign 2016.
