--- title: GOP Debate: Rubio Defends Michigan Gov. on Water Crisis description: Republican presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio came to the defense of Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder's handling of the Flint water crisis canonical: https://time.com/4247414/rubio-defends-michigan-governor-flint-water-crisis-republican-debate/ author: Daniel White article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-04T04:14:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:46:25.843Z article:section: Politics og:title: Rubio Defends Michigan Governor Over Flint Water Crisis og:description: Republicans talked Flint while a large protest occurred outside of the debate. og:url: https://time.com/4247414/rubio-defends-michigan-governor-flint-water-crisis-republican-debate/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt395fe3aeee886385/69888039cd1bba8bb76ffb31/timpeol-gop-republican-debate-donald-trump-marco-rubio-ted-cruz-john-kasich-13.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3767 og:image:height: 2119 og:image:alt: TIMEPOL Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, John Kasich, Marco Rubio, Megyn Kelly og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Rubio Defends Michigan Governor Over Flint Water Crisis twitter:description: Republicans talked Flint while a large protest occurred outside of the debate. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt395fe3aeee886385/69888039cd1bba8bb76ffb31/timpeol-gop-republican-debate-donald-trump-marco-rubio-ted-cruz-john-kasich-13.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Rubio Defends Michigan Governor Over Flint Water Crisis at Republican Debate > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=6b60358f-d406-4384-b6e6-af67ae6a24de&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Mar 4, 2016 4:14 AM UTC  Protestors rally near the site of the Republican presidential debate on March 3 in Detroit. Protestors rally near the site of the Republican presidential debate on March 3 in Detroit. Jim West—Zuma by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Mar 4, 2016 4:14 AM UTC Republican presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio came to the defense of Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder’s handling of the Flint water crisis during [Thursday’s Republican debate](http://time.com/4247275/donald-trump-mitt-romney-john-mccain/?6). When asked a question about an apparent lack of Republican response to Flint, [a city in the midst of a crisis over it’s lead-poisoned water supply](http://time.com/4246098/fallout-from-flints-water-crisis/), Rubio offered Gov. Snyder praise for his response. “The politicizing of it, I think, is unfair, because I don’t think someone woke up one morning and said “let’s figure out how to poison the water system to hurt someone, but accountability is important,” Rubio said. “I will say I give the Governor credit. He took responsibility for what happened and he’s talked about people being held accountable and the need to change.” Gov. Snyder [has faced criticism over his handling of the issue](http://time.com/4213726/flint-officials-must-pay/), but Rubio focussed on calling for a collective response to the water crisis and planning for the future. “All of us are outraged about what happened and we should work together to solve it,” Rubio said. “There is a proper role for the government to play at the federal level in helping local communities to respond to tragedies of this kind, not just to deal with the people that have been impacted by it but to ensure that something like this never happens again.” Thursday’s debate was held in Detroit—some 70 miles from Flint—in the midst of a [large protest outside the Fox Theatre](http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2016/03/03/hundreds-protest-outside-gop-debate-fox-theatre/81292418/). Demonstrators braved the snow, urging greater protections for the environment, improvements to Flint’s water system, respect for social and racial justice, and better wages for low-wage workers. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4247414/rubio-defends-michigan-governor-flint-water-crisis-republican-debate/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4247414/rubio-defends-michigan-governor-flint-water-crisis-republican-debate/"},"headline":"Rubio Defends Michigan Governor Over Flint Water Crisis at Republican Debate","datePublished":"2016-03-04T04:14:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:46:25.843Z","description":"Rubio defended the governor as protesters gathered outside of the debate","url":"https://time.com/4247414/rubio-defends-michigan-governor-flint-water-crisis-republican-debate/","keywords":["Debates","republicans","2016 Election","Michigan","Flint","Flint Water Crisis"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt395fe3aeee886385/69888039cd1bba8bb76ffb31/timpeol-gop-republican-debate-donald-trump-marco-rubio-ted-cruz-john-kasich-13.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/blt395fe3aeee886385/69888039cd1bba8bb76ffb31/timpeol-gop-republican-debate-donald-trump-marco-rubio-ted-cruz-john-kasich-13.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"TIMEPOL Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, John Kasich, Marco Rubio, Megyn Kelly","caption":"Protestors rally near the site of the Republican presidential debate on March 3 in Detroit.","creditText":"Jim West—Zuma","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/debates/","name":"Debates"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4247414/rubio-defends-michigan-governor-flint-water-crisis-republican-debate/","name":"Rubio Defends Michigan Governor Over Flint Water Crisis at Republican Debate"}}]}] ```