U.S. Sen. John McCain doesn’t think immigration reform will ruin Sen. Marco Rubio’s chances for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination, reports the Arizona Republic.
Conservatives, Tea Party activists and pundits on the right have been dismissing the Senator from Florida since his work as part of the “Gang of Eight” on the cross-party immigration reform bill. The bipartisan bill passed the Senate June 27 with a 68-32 vote.
Many on the right saw the bill as a pathway to citizenship that they believe was amnesty for nearly 11 million undocumented workers. Although McCain took the lead on the bill, Rubio was getting the most heat from many who say he sold the GOP out to make a deal with Democrats.
McCain is no stranger to the downsides of supporting immigration reform. He took heat in his 2008 run for the white house due to a 2007 stand the senator from Arizona took on immigration. That bill failed in the Senate amid calls that it too was “amnesty” for undocumented workers.
Another Gang of Eight member — Sen. Jeff Flake, also from Arizona — believes Republican primary voters will eventually recognize Rubio’s electability. Flake noted that President Barack Obama both in 2008 and 2012 because of his appeal to Hispanics, a progressively more prominent voting demographic.
