El Conquistador! Marco Rubio Wins Landslide in Puerto Rico Primary

Sen. Marco Rubio has won the Puerto Rico Republican Primary, and it appears he is going to secure all of the 23 delegates from the U.S. territory.

The Florida Senator was widely-expected to win the Puerto Rico primary, and he received key endorsements from leaders there. He is the only candidate who campaigned there prior to the Republican primary on the island.

Rubio performed poorly stateside this weekend. He finished far behind leaders Ted Cruz and Donald Trump in all four states voting on Super Saturday. His highest level of support was just 16 percent of the vote.

Rubio failed to meet the threshold for delegates in Louisiana and Maine, despite strong backing from Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal.

Rubio told supporters from San Juan Saturday night:

These are important states. We were in Kansas yesterday. These states have a certain profile that other candidates do better in. We recognize that. But it’s proportional.

What you need to understand is all of these states are awarding these delegates by proportion.

So tonight, we will have more delegates than we did last night. We continue to pick up delegates and we will continue to do so, and this map only gets better as we move forward in some of the other states.

While campaigning in Puerto Rico, he gave speeches entirely in Spanish, according to reports. Additionally, Rubio answered reporters’ questions in both English and Spanish.

Rubio recently secured endorsements from key Republican leaders in Puerto Rico, including Luis Fortuño, who served as Governor of Puerto Rico from 2009-2012.

Fortuño also supported Mitt Romney in the 2012 Republican primary in the territory. Romney won the island by a landslide, demolishing Rick Santorum with over 85 percent of the vote.

Based on early results, Rubio is on track to match Romney’s result.

The number one issue dominating Puerto Rico in recent months has been the island’s fiscal crisis and possible debt default. Political leaders are lobbying Congress for a legislative exemption that would allow the island to file for bankruptcy.

In order to win delegates in Puerto Rico, a candidate needs to reach a threshold of 20 percent. 50 percent support is needed to take all of the 23 delegates available.