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Rubio to announce next campaign on April 13
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en. Marco Rubio said Monday that he is planning a political event in two weeks in Miami to announce his plans for the 2016 presidential election.
The first-term Republican from Florida, appearing on Fox News, did not explicitly say he is running for the White House, instead telling would-be supporters to go to his website and reserve tickets for the rally.
"I will announce on April 13 what I'm going to do next in terms of running for president or the U.S. Senate," Rubio said.
A first-generation immigrant whose parents fled Cuba, Rubio could make history as the nation's first Hispanic president. Rubio frames his pitch to voters as the embodiment of the American dream, a son of a maid and bartender who worked his way through law school and now sits in Congress.
His is an appealing story for a party that has struggled to connect with minority and younger voters. Those voters have been solidly behind Democrats in recent presidential elections. Rubio's advisers see his candidacy as a way to eat into that Democratic bloc, even if capturing it would be almost impossible.
Rubio has said he would not run for both offices on 2016's ballots, and his team has been moving ahead as though it was putting together a White House bid, including donors who helped previous presidential nominees collect tens of millions of dollars.
But Rubio faces steep challenges to the nomination, including from his one-time mentor, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. Rubio could face as many as 20 other rivals for the Republican nomination.
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Follow Philip Elliott on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/philip_elliott (***)
