Florida Sen. Marco Rubio speaks at a rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Tuesday, Feb. 23.
Vivian Hughbanks | Collegian
Approximately 1,600 people crowded into Lacks Enterprises in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Tuesday, Feb. 23 to rally for GOP presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida while voters in Nevada were caucusing.
As candidates begin campaigning in Michigan for the state’s March 8 primary, a group of seven students from Hillsdale College, lead by Students for Rubio Michigan Chairman senior Dominic Restuccia, helped with the rally. Another 38 Students for Rubio from other Michigan colleges attended the event, as well.
“I am looking for a candidate that represents conservative values, who will be able to win the next election, who exemplifies his faith and the ideas of the American dream,” sophomore Jonathan Moy said. “I think Marco Rubio has all these qualities.”
Rubio shared his vision of the American dream and the story of his family as immigrants from Cuba during his rally, noting how they lived paycheck-to-paycheck for many years. America needs to be a land where the current generation can achieve the same success that our parents did, he said.
Students and adults came out to see Rubio. A younger attendee, an elementary-aged boy in American regalia with a patriotic bow-tie, threw in his support for Rubio, adding a small pitch for his own run for the presidency many years down the road.
“I want Marco Rubio to be the next president because he’s very pro-life, and I think he’d be very good with gun laws and with ISIS and illegal immigration,” the young Luke Cunningham said.
When asked what the “new American century” meant to him, Cunningham replied: “To start over with all the bad things President Barack Obama has done, and I think Rubio will do a good job with cleaning up the economy and things like that.”
Those old enough to vote had similar thoughts, including Kelly Potter, who wore an Uncle Sam hat as her two children hung on her.
“I think it’s time for a change; we need a good presidential candidate to help us out,” Potter said. “I think immigration and health care — hopefully he can sort some of that out and help both sides.”
Eaton County Commissioner and veteran Jeremy Whittum expressed some of his frustration with current government agencies after the rally.
“Some of the people who I was in Iraq with in 2008 and 2009, under Obama, needed medical care,” Whittum said. “They’ve gone for eight years and still haven’t received medical care. No one has come up with a good reason as to why we can’t take our VA card and go to our local medical provider and seek medical care. The VA is just another encumbered government agency. Elvis isn’t dead; he’s just in the VA waiting for care.”
Despite his frustration with current agencies, Whittum expressed a reserved sense of hope.
“I think Rubio would be a fine president,” he said. “He’s not Ronald Reagan, but we only got one of him.”
Top tweets from the rally:
Wasn’t kidding…. @HDaleCollegian @marcorubio pic.twitter.com/YM5Byp29Pn
— Thomas Novelly (@TomNovelly) February 24, 2016
“We’re feeling the Marcomentum.” @HDaleCollegian #reportinglive #grandrapids #marcorubio
— Amanda Tindall (@MandyJoyful12) February 24, 2016