Rubio Comes to Area for PAC Fundraiser March 15

BRADENTON -- Local Republican fundraising heavyweights are pitching in to bring Senator Marco Rubio to the area for a dinner to benefit the Senator's Reclaim America PAC. Rubio, who was recently elevated to the highest tier of the GOP when he was tapped to deliver the Republican response to President Obama's 2013 State of the Union address, started the PAC to help get like-minded candidates elected to Congress.

The former Speaker of the Florida House will attend both a general reception and and private dinner, both of which will command significant contributions, again reflecting the Senator's escalating stature within the party. The general reception, which will be hosted at a private residence, costs $500 per person. Rubio will then attend a private dinner at Louie's Modern in Sarasota, for which tickets will cost $5,000 each/$10,000 per couple.

The host committee for Rubio's appearance is a who's who of local Republicans from politicians like Florida Senator Bill Galvano, former Florida Senate President John McKay and Congressman Vern Buchanan, to prominent land developers and political fundraisers like Carlos Beruff and Pat Neal, who was himself a state Senator.

Rubio enjoyed strong support in the Sarasota/Manatee area when he won the Senate seat in 2010. In addition to significant financial contributions, he won both counties by a greater margin than his statewide average, as he defeated sitting governor Charlie Crist and Democratic Congressman Kendrick Meeks in a three-way race and became the national face of the GOP's 2010 electoral success. There is strong speculation that the Senator will run for President in 2016.