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Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., pauses while addressing the American Conservative Union's Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Md., earlier this month.
Cliff Owen/AP
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio announced Tuesday night that he was suspending his campaign for president after losing his home state in a landslide to Donald Trump.
"After tonight it is clear that while we are on the right side, we will not be on the winning side," Rubio told supporters in Miami.
Rubio congratulated Donald Trump at the start of his speech, but later appeared to criticize the real estate mogul's tactics.
Rubio said that Americans are anxious and frustrated about their jobs, immigration and many other issues, and the easiest path to victory would have been to play on those anxieties.
"I chose a different route, an I'm proud of that," he said. "In a year like this, that would have been the easiest way to win, but that is not what's best for America."
The end of Rubio's candidacy is something that has been sensed for weeks by political watchers. The senator won only three total contests: the Minnesota caucuses on Super Tuesday and later the District of Columbia caucuses and the Puerto Rico primary. His campaign kept arguing that once the race moved into the winner-take-all portion of the campaign, particularly in his native Florida, the momentum would shift his way. Instead, his home state would write his political obituary.
Marco Rubio Ends His Presidential Campaign