Marco Rubio stumps in Summerlin

By Scott Lucas

Friday, Oct. 9, 2015 | 2 a.m.

Sounding themes of change in a speech at Sun City Summerlin on Thursday night, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio opened a three-day campaign swing through Las Vegas.

“This election is a generational choice about what kind of country to be in the 21st century,” said Rubio, joined by several members of his extended family. The Republican contender, who lived in Las Vegas during parts of his childhood, counted 68 family members living in the Silver State, and drew on his upbringing in making his case to voters, saying that only in the United States could the son of a bartender who worked at Sam’s Town and a maid who worked at the Imperial Palace aspire to be elected president.

On economic issues, Rubio’s speech previewed elements of a general election strategy designed to paint the 67-year-old Hillary Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, as out of touch. Rubio, 44, praised technology companies like Uber and Airbnb for their economic innovation and said that his 29-year-old brother-in-law should not expect the same structure for Social Security benefits that his mother would. However, he explicitly rejected any change in Social Security that would affect current retirees. “I want this in the paper tomorrow. I’m against anything that would harm my mother,” Rubio joked.

On foreign policy, Rubio criticized the Obama administration, saying he would repeal the nuclear arms deal with Iran “on day one.” He had tough words for foreign adversaries, calling North Korean leader Kim Jong-un a “lunatic” and Russian President Vladimir Putin a “gangster.”

Among the crowd who gathered to watch Rubio were Pahrump residents Katreen Romanoff and Beth Rupp, both of whom had seen Donald Trump speak earlier on Thursday. “We’re just so impressed with Rubio,” said Romanoff. “He’s one and two with Trump for me right now. Maybe two and one.”

In addition to calling for the repeal of Obamacare and an energy strategy that embraced coal and natural gas, Rubio showed signs of a strong political operation in the state, with endorsers such as Lt. Gov. Mark Hutchison and Rick Harrison of "Pawn Stars" reminding the audience about Nevada’s caucus system and staffers collecting contact information from members of the crowd as they left.

The event was the first public appearance by Rubio in a three-day campaign stop in Nevada that will include two more public events as well as closed-door meetings with donors and strategists. Rubio is the third presidential candidate to visit Las Vegas this week.