--- title: Marco Rubio Picks Up Endorsements After Jeb Bush Exits description: With Jeb Bush out of the picture, Republicans are lined up Monday to endorse Marco Rubio. canonical: https://time.com/4232937/marco-rubio-republican-endorsements-south-carolina/ author: Daniel White article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-22T20:36:30.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T15:16:32.726Z article:section: Politics og:title: Rubio Picks Up Endorsements After Bush Ends Campaign og:description: The Republican Establishment moved on quickly. og:url: https://time.com/4232937/marco-rubio-republican-endorsements-south-carolina/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbe4ddecd09eea3ef/69887e45e20a872312a8f9d2/marco-rubio9.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Republican presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) (2nd L) campaigns with (L-R) Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC), Governor Nikki Haley, and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) during an event February 18, 2016, in Greenville, South Carolina. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Rubio Picks Up Endorsements After Bush Ends Campaign twitter:description: The Republican Establishment moved on quickly. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbe4ddecd09eea3ef/69887e45e20a872312a8f9d2/marco-rubio9.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Rubio Picks Up Endorsements After Bush Ends Campaign by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Feb 22, 2016 8:36 PM UTC  Republican presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) (2nd L) campaigns with (L-R) Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC), Governor Nikki Haley, and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) during an event February 18, 2016, in Greenville, South Carolina. Republican presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) (2nd L) campaigns with (L-R) Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC), Governor Nikki Haley, and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) during an event February 18, 2016, in Greenville, South Carolina.Alex Wong—Getty Images by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Feb 22, 2016 8:36 PM UTC The [end of Jeb Bush’s campaign](http://time.com/4231664/jeb-bush-drops-out-president/) led to a flurry of big-name Republican endorsements over the weekend. After the former Florida governor left the GOP primary, a number of big names weighed in, with Bush’s former protégé, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, by far the clear winner. The most notable endorsement came from former Republican presidential candidate and Senate majority leader Bob Dole, who [previously backed Bush](http://time.com/4108266/bob-dole-endorses-jeb-bush-president/) and [has made clear](http://time.com/4189400/donald-trump-ted-cruz-bob-dole/) that he does not want to see Texas Senator Ted Cruz win the nomination. “Now that my good friend Jeb Bush is no longer running, I’m supporting Rubio,” Dole told ABC on Monday. “He wants to grow the party as opposed to Cruz. I don’t know what he wants to grow.” Other endorsements Monday for Rubio included U.S. Senators Thom Tillis and Jeff Flake, former Republican presidential candidate and Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, and U.S. Representatives Jeff Miller, Gus Bilirakis and Cresent Hardy. Meantime, former Homeland Security head and Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge, who had previously backed Bush, endorsed Ohio Governor John Kasich. Marco Rubio Picks Up Endorsements After Jeb Bush Exits ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4232937/marco-rubio-republican-endorsements-south-carolina/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4232937/marco-rubio-republican-endorsements-south-carolina/"},"headline":"Rubio Picks Up Endorsements After Bush Ends Campaign","datePublished":"2016-02-22T20:36:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T15:16:32.726Z","description":"The Republican Establishment moved on quickly","url":"https://time.com/4232937/marco-rubio-republican-endorsements-south-carolina/","keywords":["republicans","2016 Election topic","Sen. Marco Rubio","jeb bush","john kasich"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbe4ddecd09eea3ef/69887e45e20a872312a8f9d2/marco-rubio9.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel White","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/daniel-white/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbe4ddecd09eea3ef/69887e45e20a872312a8f9d2/marco-rubio9.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Republican presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) (2nd L) campaigns with (L-R) Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC), Governor Nikki Haley, and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) during an event February 18, 2016, in Greenville, South Carolina.","caption":"Republican presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) (2nd L) campaigns with (L-R) Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC), Governor Nikki Haley, and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) during an event February 18, 2016, in Greenville, South Carolina.","creditText":"Alex Wong—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":"https://time.com/4232937/marco-rubio-republican-endorsements-south-carolina/","name":"Rubio Picks Up Endorsements After Bush Ends Campaign"}}]}] ```