Marco Rubio joined U.S. Rep. Trey Gowdy at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center Wednesday afternoon for a town hall meeting before the highly anticipated South Carolina primary on Feb. 20.
“South Carolina is a place for new beginnings and fresh starts, and we also happen to pick presidents,” Gowdy said.
He expressed his respect for Rubio’s campaign and said, “South Carolina, let me tell you this: If we nominate Marco Rubio, I promise you he will be the next president of the United States.
This was followed by a “Marco” chant from the audience, which was made up of students, campaign volunteers and other Rubio supporters.
“I see a passion in him. I think he’s passionate in what he believes in, and I think that he’s strong in his ideas. I like his ideas. I support his policies ... It seems to me like he could be our future. He’s young, and when he speaks I feel like he really cares about the country and really knows what he’s talking about,” Alison Trimble, first-year international studies student, said.
Rubio talked about his presence in South Carolina and how he spends a lot of time here, not only as a political figure, but also with his family as a halfway point between Miami and D.C.
“I have a good friend of mine that coaches basketball here at the university, some of you might know him — his name is Frank Martin. Did you know Cubans coach basketball?” Rubio said.
He stressed the importance of South Carolina voters: “Record turnout in New Hampshire. Record turnout in Iowa. It's gonna be a record turnout in South Carolina.”
Rubio spent time pointing out the danger the country is facing due to increased government involvement in health care, education and religion and the repercussions the nation will face if it is not changed.
“If we fail now, they’ll put three more liberals on the Supreme Court, and our Constitution is in a lot of trouble. If we fail now, the debt will continue to grow, and we will have a debt crisis. If we fail now, and they win, they will continue to destroy our military capabilities, and we will be less safe and less influential in the world. We have to get it right, and we have to get it right now in this election,” Rubio said.
Rubio also gave his thoughts on the democratic presidential candidates, saying that Bernie Sanders is a socialist and Hillary Clinton is not fit for the job.
“She’s not qualified to be president of the United States, because anyone who takes classified information and puts it on a private server cannot be president of the United States, because she thinks she’s above the law,” Rubio said.
The event ended sooner than expected because Rubio had to get back to D.C. to vote on North Korean sanctions, but he assured the audience he would be spending so much time in South Carolina in the next nine to 10 days that he would have to pay a property tax.
“We can’t lose this election, which means we have to nominate someone who can win, but not just anyone who can win. It has to be someone who is truly a conservative that embraces limited government and free enterprise and a strong national defense — but who can win. That’s why I’m here: to ask you for your vote. I’m the conservative in this race that can win,” Rubio said.