Marco Rubio stood Monday in the grand hall of Miami’s Freedom Tower, the place where Cuban exiles were first welcomed into the United States, and declared himself the heir to their legacy as the newest candidate for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.
“I know my candidacy might seem improbable to some watching from abroad. After all, in many countries, the highest office in the land is reserved for the rich and powerful,” Rubio said. “But I live in an exceptional country. ... where even the son of a bartender and a maid can have the same dreams and the same future as those who come from power and privilege.”
Rubio, who rose from the obscure West Miami City Commission to the U.S. Senate in a mere dozen years, cast himself as a break from the past — a message pointed directly at his onetime mentor and likely Republican rival Jeb Bush and Democrat Hillary Clinton, who unveiled her own presidential bid Sunday.
“Yesterday is over, and we are never going back,” Rubio said, without naming names. “You see, we Americans are proud of our history, but our country has always been about the future. And before us now is the opportunity to author the greatest chapter yet in the amazing story of America.