U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio, who was scheduled to speak tonight in the Reitz Union Grand Ballroom, has postponed his trip to Gainesville.
UF College Republicans chairman Jonathan Lott said Rubio canceled his speech due to an illness in his family.
On his Web site, Rubio wrote he is returning to South Florida because his father was diagnosed with a recurrence of lung cancer.
The UF College Republicans were organizing the event in conjunction with Rubio’s campaign.
Rubio, the former Florida speaker of the House, is campaigning against Gov. Charlie Crist for the Republican nomination for the Senate seat being vacated by Sen. George LeMieux.
The election will be held Nov. 2.
According to a Rasmussen Reports poll released Monday, 57 percent of Florida’s Republican voters are likely to vote for Rubio in the primary. Crist, his immediate opponent, is behind by almost 30 points.
Lott said Rubio is cleaning up the polls because he is running on a platform of being a “true conservative” who supports small government.
