Romney doing donor outreach for Rubio

by Jesse Byrnes - 08/17/16 10:06 PM ET

Mitt Romney is lending his hand to Florida Sen. Marco Rubio’s reelection campaign by helping with donor outreach, according to a report on Wednesday.

Romney spoke with about 20 potential Rubio donors on Wednesday and emphasized the need to devote financial resources to holding on to seats like Rubio’s in the Senate as a check on a potential Democratic president, according to CNN.

{mosads}”Most Americans are not really happy with either outcome, either the Republican or Democrat outcome. But right now, [Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s] in the lead,” the 2012 GOP presidential nominee said on the phone call, in a published recording.

Romney spoke of the prospect of one party being “eviscerated,” affording the other “unfettered control.” He then discussed Clinton’s lead in the presidential race, warning of what could happen if Clinton won “by too large a margin.”

Romney, an outspoken critic of GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, didn’t endorse in the Republican presidential primaries but was viewed as close to Rubio and lent his name to the GOP senator’s campaign efforts.

Republicans have worried about the effect Trump could have on down-ballot candidates in November, with control of the Senate on the line.

Trump has trailed Clinton nationally and in a slew of battleground states recently, including in Florida, where a Monmouth University poll released this week found her leading by 9 points.

Rubio led his likely Democratic challenger, Rep. Patrick Murphy, by just 3 points, 48 percent to 45 percent, in a Quinnipiac University survey released last week. He strongly criticized Trump in the GOP primaries but has since backed the nominee.

Tags Donald Trump Florida Senate 2016 Hillary Clinton Marco Rubio