U.S. Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-SC, continues to showcase his support for U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio’s, R-Fla., presidential bid, this time in a TV ad released Tuesday in his home state of South Carolina.
Conservative Solutions PAC, a Super PAC backing Rubio for the Republican nomination, released an ad featuring Gowdy which is running in the Palmetto State. South Carolina will hold its primary on Feb. 20 after Iowa and New Hampshire have their say.
In the ad, Gowdy plays up Rubio’s national security credentials.
“Our Founding Fathers gave us a president and a commander in chief because they understood that national security and public safety are the foundations of a free people, and there is nobody better on those two issues than Marco Rubio,” Gowdy says in the commercial.
Gowdy, who became nationally prominent when he led the congressional investigation of former U.S. Sec. of State Hillary Clinton’s handling of the terrorist attacks on State Department personnel in Benghazi which led to four Americans killed, threw his support to Rubio last month and toured Iowa with him.
“I...have been a great admirer of Sen. Rubio’s ability to express the message of conservatism in a hopeful, aspirational, persuasive way,” Gowdy said on Fox News at the end of last month as he explained why he backed Rubio. “I am not a terribly hopeful or optimistic person — I’m a former prosecutor, I’m actually cynical. So, I greatly admire the Tim Scotts of the world and, frankly, Ronald Reagan and Marco Rubio who can communicate our message in an aspirational, hopeful way.
“That to me is persuasive, so when you like someone personally, you agree with them on the issues and you think they’re a really persuasive messenger for our movement, for our party, it made it kind of an easy decision for me,” Gowdy added.
Correct the Record, a group defending Clinton as she aims for the White House, came out swinging on Tuesday after the ad was unveiled.
“Trey Gowdy’s open endorsement of a campaign opponent of Hillary Clinton’s and his starring role in an ad that compares Marco Rubio to Hillary Clinton removes the last smidge of any perceived objectivity that Gowdy may have had," said David Brock, the founder of Correct the Record. “Gowdy must resign as chairman of the Benghazi Committee. He has thrown himself into the middle of the presidential campaign and aligned himself with one of Clinton’s GOP opponents. This conflict of interest is appalling and the American people are tired of Gowdy playing politics with this tragedy.”
In recent election cycles,South Carolina has been crucial in determining the Republican presidential nomination. Set up by legendary Republican strategist Lee Atwater to help his candidate George H.W. Bush in the 1988 cycle, South Carolina helped choose the winning candidate in 1996, 2000 and 2008 when Iowa and New Hampshire differed. In 2012, South Carolina’s winning streak came to an end as former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., beat out former Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Mass.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
