--- ---  # Marco Rubio Says He's Missing Senate Votes to Stop Hillary Clinton  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Oct 29, 2015 3:50 PM UTC  Presidential candidates Sen. Marco Rubio (R) (R-FL) speaks while Jeb Bush looks on during the CNBC Republican Presidential Debate in Boulder, Colorado on Oct. 28, 2015 . Presidential candidates Sen. Marco Rubio (R) (R-FL) speaks while Jeb Bush looks on during the CNBC Republican Presidential Debate in Boulder, Colorado on Oct. 28, 2015 .Justin Sullivan—Getty Images  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Oct 29, 2015 3:50 PM UTC Marco Rubio continued to [defend his missed votes in the Senate](http://time.com/4091219/republican-debate-marco-rubio-senate/) on Thursday, using the morning after [a strong debate performance](http://time.com/4092423/who-won-and-lost-at-the-debate/?xid=homepage) to argue that his spotty attendance record is all in the service of stopping Hillary Clinton from winning the White House. “As far as votes, I don’t like missing votes, I hate it,” Rubio said on CNN. “We do our best effort to make it—we’ve canceled campaign events, especially for important votes, and we will definitely be there for any vote in which our vote would be decisive on making a difference on the outcome.” “Here’s what I would hate more, and that is to wake up on the first Wednesday of November in 2016 to the news that Hillary Clinton has been elected President of the United States,” Rubio added. Rubio has been on the defensive since a Florida newspaper called for his resignation because he had missed 59 Senate votes while running for president. Republican rival and fellow Floridian [Jeb Bush picked up the attack line during Wednesday night’s debate](http://time.com/4091922/republican-debate-marco-rubio-jeb-bush/), but Rubio swung back and was widely credited as having gotten the better of the exchange. Republican Debate: Marco Rubio Defends Missing Votes ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4092784/republican-debate-marco-rubio-hillary-clinton/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4092784/republican-debate-marco-rubio-hillary-clinton/"},"headline":"Marco Rubio Says He's Missing Senate Votes to Stop Hillary Clinton","datePublished":"2015-10-29T15:50:46.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T12:11:48.534Z","description":"\"I don't like missing votes, I hate it\"","url":"https://time.com/4092784/republican-debate-marco-rubio-hillary-clinton/","keywords":["2016 Election","Hillary Clinton","2016 Election topic","Sen. Marco Rubio","jeb bush","Republican debate"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd1538e96ffe3f09f/69886ec00a4a2273919c6cd0/marco-rubio.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Charlotte Alter","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd1538e96ffe3f09f/69886ec00a4a2273919c6cd0/marco-rubio.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Presidential candidates Sen. Marco Rubio (R) (R-FL) speaks while Jeb Bush looks on during the CNBC Republican Presidential Debate in Boulder, Colorado on Oct. 28, 2015 .","caption":"Presidential candidates Sen. Marco Rubio (R) (R-FL) speaks while Jeb Bush looks on during the CNBC Republican Presidential Debate in Boulder, Colorado on Oct. 28, 2015 .","creditText":"Justin Sullivan—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4092784/republican-debate-marco-rubio-hillary-clinton/","name":"Marco Rubio Says He's Missing Senate Votes to Stop Hillary Clinton"}}]}] ```