--- title: Rubio Makes Bid to Keep Delegates for Contested Convention description: Despite suspending his campaign, Sen. Marco Rubio is attempting to keep every delegate he won while running for president canonical: https://time.com/4276086/rubio-delegates-contested-convention-trump/ author: NBC News article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-30T12:43:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:46:17.723Z article:section: Politics og:title: Rubio Makes Unprecedented Bid to Keep Delegates for Contested Convention og:description: Rubio "wants to give voters a chance to stop Trump" og:url: https://time.com/4276086/rubio-delegates-contested-convention-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt926fbafa2f7f020e/69888cf82dce01132d9e868c/marco-rubio-keep-delegates-gop-republican-convention.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Marco Rubio Holds Campaign Rally In Tampa og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Rubio Makes Unprecedented Bid to Keep Delegates for Contested Convention twitter:description: Rubio "wants to give voters a chance to stop Trump" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt926fbafa2f7f020e/69888cf82dce01132d9e868c/marco-rubio-keep-delegates-gop-republican-convention.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Rubio Makes Unprecedented Bid to Keep Delegates for Contested Convention > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Ari Melber / NBC News](https://time.com/author/nbc-news/) ## Ari Melber / NBC News Mar 30, 2016 12:43 PM UTC  Republican presidential candidate, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio speaks during a campaign rally on March 7, 2016 in Tampa, Fla. Republican presidential candidate, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio speaks during a campaign rally on March 7, 2016 in Tampa, Fla. Joe Raedle—Getty Images by [Ari Melber / NBC News](https://time.com/author/nbc-news/) ## Ari Melber / NBC News Mar 30, 2016 12:43 PM UTC Despite suspending his campaign, Sen. Marco Rubio is attempting to keep every delegate he won while running for president. The unusual move reflects preparations for a contested convention this summer — and comes as Donald Trump [backed away from an earlier pledge](http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/trump-cruz-back-down-pledge-support-republican-nominee-n547631) to support the Republican party’s nominee if he is treated unfairly after winning more delegates than his rivals. Rubio aide Alex Burgos told MSNBC that while the Florida senator is “no longer a candidate,” he “wants to give voters a chance to stop Trump.” [**Read more**](http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/rubio-makes-unprecedented-bid-keep-delegates-contested-convention-n547646?cid=par-time%5F20160330) **from our partners at** [**NBC News**](http://www.nbcnews.com/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4276086/rubio-delegates-contested-convention-trump/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4276086/rubio-delegates-contested-convention-trump/"},"headline":"Rubio Makes Unprecedented Bid to Keep Delegates for Contested Convention","datePublished":"2016-03-30T12:43:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:46:17.723Z","description":"Rubio \"wants to give voters a chance to stop Trump\"","url":"https://time.com/4276086/rubio-delegates-contested-convention-trump/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt926fbafa2f7f020e/69888cf82dce01132d9e868c/marco-rubio-keep-delegates-gop-republican-convention.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ari Melber / NBC News"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt926fbafa2f7f020e/69888cf82dce01132d9e868c/marco-rubio-keep-delegates-gop-republican-convention.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Marco Rubio Holds Campaign Rally In Tampa","caption":"Republican presidential candidate, Florida Sen. 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