Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio stopped in Wichita this afternoon to drum up support ahead of tomorrow’s statewide caucuses.
Rubio flew into Jabara Airport and walked into a hangar filled with hundreds of supporters. He spent much of his speech talking about getting American back on track after eight years of Barack Obama.
“If we stay on the road we are on right now, we will be the first Americans that leave their children worse off than themselves,” Rubio said.
Rubio said if elected president, he would immediately repeal the Affordable Care Act, a similar stance that Republican candidate Mitt Romney ran on in 2012.
Rubio also said that Obama was a failed commander in chief, adding that if he were to be elected, Rubio would take on North Korea, the self-proclaimed Islamic State, Iran and Chinese hacking attempts.
Rubio's speech resonated with the large crowd.
Larry Freeman, who said he was undecided before the event, quickly turned into a Rubio supporter.
“He’s got a plan and I think he’ll stick with it. I don’t think it’s just shallow promises,” Freeman said. “I think he’ll do what he says he’ll do.”
Rubio called out Republican frontrunner Donald Trump on foreign affairs.
“Donald Trump says that he’s not taking sides when it comes to Israel and the Palestinians. I’m taking sides. When I’m president, we’re going to be on Israel’s side,” Rubio said to applause.
There were many young people in the crowd, which Rubio acknowledged, saying that’s been common during his campaign.
Derrick Smith, a student at Wichita State University, says supporting Rubio is pretty simple.
“He’s younger,” Smith said. “Obviously that sounds sort of stereotypical, but it just kind of seems like he’s more in tune with our problems.”
Smith says that both Donald Trump and Ted Cruz are out of touch with the young vote, and that Rubio often mentions higher education reform and student loan debt.
Rubio told the crowd that he needs a big, come from behind victory in order to be the eventual Republican nominee. He urged each person in the audience to bring 15 more people with them to the Kansas caucuses.
Both Ted Cruz and Donald Trump plan to visit Wichita on Saturday to compete for the state’s 40 delegates.
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