Jim Rosica
The Republican Party of Florida on Tuesday announced that four presidential candidates will attend its Sunshine Summit in Orlando this November.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida have confirmed their attendance, state party chairman Blaise Ingoglia said in a press release.
“Their participation will help fire up Florida Republicans as we come together before 2016,” Ingoglia said. “We look forward to announcing additional participating candidates as we draw closer to our event.”
The summit is described as a “unique event where candidates will share their vision for the future of our nation with the more than 2,500 expected activists and grassroots leaders in one of the most influential primary and general election swing states.”
RPOF spokesman Wadi Gaitan said the party “is planning on announcing another round of participating candidates before the end of the week.”
Bush currently is polling the highest among the four GOP contenders at 9 percent, according to the Huffington Post average of presidential race polls.
Rubio is at 8.4 percent, Jindal is polling at 0.4 percent and Graham has 0.1 percent.
Real estate tycoon and reality TV star Donald Trump still leads overall with nearly 27 percent.
The party previously OK’d a plan for candidates running in the state’s presidential preference primary that doesn’t require them to attend the event.
The state’s GOP executive committee last week adopted a rule that gives candidates options to get on the ballot, including getting at least 125 signatures in each of the 27 congressional districts or paying $25,000 as a qualifying fee.
Candidates still may get on the ballot if they attend the summit, however.
“Passing this new rule … shows that the Republican Party remains committed to the task at hand, delivering our 29 electoral votes to the Republican nominee,” Ingoglia said last week.
