Why I’m Supporting Marco Rubio

On the eve of the GOP presidential candidates’ debate in Las Vegas, I am announcing my endorsement of Sen. Marco Rubio.

Since entering public service, Sen. Rubio has sought to solve public-policy challenges through creative approaches. He famously pushed his Florida statehouse colleagues to crowdsource ideas that would improve the state, shape policy and, later, form a book of 100 ideas reflecting the thoughts of thousands of Floridians.

For me, Sen. Rubio is the “Uber candidate.” Not only has his determination and passion for conservative principles led him to be a popular and effective senator and trending presidential candidate, but he is also the only Republican candidate on the stage who fully realizes our economy is always evolving and creating new opportunities.

For Sen. Rubio, supporting disruptive innovators like Uber, Lyft and AirBnB is a win-win — these services create new jobs, allow average Americans to make money and lift our economy. Each year, more than 150,000 people come to Las Vegas for CES, to see the new job-creating innovations. Our trade show and our industry, indeed our nation’s future, depend upon a free market welcoming innovation and allowing anyone a shot at the American Dream. Marco Rubio champions innovation and the American Dream.

Sen. Rubio stands up for free-market innovation in a manner that resonates. He isn’t delivering the standard “lower taxes, less regulation” mantra, but instead paints a picture of how businesses prosper and create jobs — all in a time of rapid innovation. In our new innovation-driven economy, Rubio is setting up the parameters for the century to come, putting a flexible workforce high on his agenda. He understands that when we allow people to decide where, when and for how long they work, our economy thrives.

Sen. Rubio’s vision for our future does not stop there. He continues to champion policies that will unleash America’s potential: from supporting high-skilled immigration, to smart trade policies, to stopping patent trolls, to building the fixed- and mobile-broadband infrastructure on which American consumers and businesses depend.

As Sen. Rubio wrote, “Today innovation is being stymied by an anti-innovation tax code and by patent trolls who target innovators with actions that are nothing short of legalized extortion. Perhaps most of all, as we’ve discussed, innovation is being held back by a regulatory code that has become a tool for status quo industries to shut down new and innovative competitors.”

I encourage all voters to take a deep look at Sen. Rubio’s credentials, help make him the next Republican presidential nominee and, ultimately, the 45th President of the United States of America.

Gary Shapiro is president and CEO of the Consumer Technology Association (CTA)TM, the U.S. trade association representing more than 2,000 consumer electronics companies, and author of the New York Times best-selling books, Ninja Innovation: The Ten Killer Strategies of the World’s Most Successful Businesses and The Comeback: How Innovation Will Restore the American Dream. His views are his own. Connect with him on Twitter: @GaryShapiro