The Florida senator finished a strong third in Monday night’s caucuses, trailing second-place Donald Trump by just a percentage point. “Strong third” is still third, which is exactly what his camp was expecting all along, but that didn’t stop him from treating it like a victory.
“So this is the moment they said would never happen,” Rubio said in a speech after the results became clear. “For months, they told us that because we offer too much optimism in a time of anger we had no chance... I will be back in October and September of this year, because when I am our nominee we are going to win Iowa, and we are going to win the election for this country.”