Trey Gowdy Officially Endorses Marco Rubio

“It’s not my job to tell you who to vote for, but I am going to tell you who I am going to vote for”.

Is it a good thing for Marco Rubio to have the backing of an establishmentarian like Mr. Gowdy?

Gowdy’s expected endorsement is not only key because of his leadership role in Congress, but because he’s from the key early voting state of SC, it could also boost Rubio’s standing there.

Iowa’s GOP caucuses have traditionally been dominated by grassroots and social conservatives, and the two GOP candidates who commonly draw the most conservative support – Sen.

Gowdy’s announcement was rumored for days, and Donald Trump chose to try to get out in front of the announcement by bashing Gowdy in an appearance on Fox & Friends Sunday.

Today, after Gowdy released his rationale for endorsing Rubio, Trump quadrupled-down on the scorn he’d been sending Gowdy’s way all week. Indeed, the attacks came up on Monday when a questioner at Rubio’s town hall asked about one of the Benghazi emails mentioned on conservative talk-radio, and Gowdy took the mic. “I found my candidate”.

“The wrapping paper cost more than the [tie]”, Gowdy joked. “And Marco Rubio is the best for them”.

And he said that Rubio has the “ability to communicate our message of principled conservatism in a hopeful, aspirational, persuasive way”.

Gowdy has a national profile as chairman of the House Benghazi Committee, which has been examining Clinton’s handling of 2012 terror attacks that left four Americans dead, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens.