Presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz will hold a campaign rally in Sen. Marco Rubio’s hometown of Miami, Florida on Wednesday leading into 2016’s secondary Super Tuesday showdown and after opening up 10 new campaign offices in his opponent’s home state.
Cruz’s campaign is making an aggressive play for the winner-take-all Rubio home state of Florida, which offers up 99 delegates.
The Cruz campaign released details for the rally on Tuesday, as voters in four other states logged in their votes in the GOP presidential primary.
Rally time and location are slated for:
10:00 a.m. – Miami, FL
Rally with Ted Cruz
Miami Dade College
Chapman Conference Center
245 N.E. 4th Street
Miami, FL 33132
Last week the Cruz campaign announced the 10 new offices in Pensacola, Jacksonville, Tampa, Umatilla, Rockledge, Lakeland, Fort Myers, Naples, Boca Raton, and Miami. A statement from the campaign read in part:
Following a strong showing on Super Tuesday, the Cruz for President Campaign is communicating a serious commitment to competing hard in the winner-take-all Sunshine State primary on March 15th. As the vaunted Ted Cruz ground operation moves into Florida, the campaign opened 10 offices all across the state this week.
Commentators have repeatedly remarked on the strength of the Cruz ground game in many states. The Cruz campaign stated that the office openings will allow volunteers to connect quickly with the campaign as they make campaign calls and walk door to door.
Cruz logged his first state win in the first-in-the-country caucus state of Iowa. Since then candidate Donald Trump has taken the lead in delegates with 384 to Cruz’s 300 prior to results from the four Tuesday, March 8 primary elections. Cruz won his home state of Texas in the March 1 “Super Tuesday” contest, delivering a large chunk of his delegate count. He also won Alaska, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Maine.
Rubio supporters gathered in Miami on Super Tuesday for a rally billed by the campaign as a “Florida Kick Off Rally” but failed to deliver much in the way of Super Tuesday success. Rubio did gather his first state win that night with Minnesota. He pledged to rally attendees that “We will win” in Florida.
Rubio trails significantly with 151 delegates and is putting strong emphasis on the importance of winning his home state. Ohio Gov. John Kasich with just 37 delegates is banking on a win in his home state and making a strong push in today’s Michigan primary in hopes that his state’s close proximity will work to his benefit.
Follow Michelle Moons on Twitter @MichelleDiana