WASHINGTON, May 19 – Sen. Marco Rubio, an ally of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, said Sunday he will not accept the results of the Nov. 5 election if they are “unfair.”
“Are you going to accept the results of the 2024 election no matter what happens, Senator?” NBC News’ “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker asked Rubio, a Florida Republican, in an interview.
“No matter what? No,” Rubio replied. “If it’s an unfair election, I think it’s going to be contested on both sides.”
President Trump and his allies are laying the groundwork to contest a possible loss in November, and even though polls show the former president leading in battleground states, the legitimacy of the election is being challenged. Reuters: Doubts are growing about report on Thursday.
In recent interviews, Trump has refused to promise to accept the election results, reinforcing the strategy he used during the 2020 campaign. Trump’s false claims that his 2020 loss was the result of fraud led his supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Rubio is currently in his third term in the U.S. Senate and is believed to be a potential candidate for President Trump’s running mate.
Earlier this month, two other vice presidential candidates, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, did not explicitly say they would accept the election results.
Rubio said Democrats “opposed every Republican victory since 2000” even though both candidates conceded defeat.
“If it’s not fair, we’re going to do the same thing as the Democrats,” Rubio said. “We’re going to use our lawyers to go to court and point out the fact that each state is not following its own election laws.”
