Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., in a televised interview, called for a return to "commonsense conservatism" and said the Republican Party should shift its message closer to a pro-worker agenda.
His comments came during an interview on Fox News.
Those voters who support a pro-worker agenda have traditionally moved toward Democrats, but have been turned off by liberals’ "woke" rhetoric, he said.
"These are people that see what’s going on in America, from a cultural and societal standpoint, and think the left is crazy," Rubio said.
He called for a new "political movement that stands on behalf of common sense and individual liberty and defense of traditional values."
"Union leaders are elected by their members," he said. "And if their members support a political movement, the leaders will follow that.
"I think there is an enormous opening and opportunity for the Republican Party because the Democratic Party has abandoned those principles for the woke left."
Rubio said that union workers have "become more supportive" and "more open" to Republican candidates.
And he noted that former President Donald Trump "deserves a lot of credit, because he was able to challenge a lot of the established market fundamentalist ideology that had become orthodox within the GOP, showing that you can be 100% pro-capitalism, but also understand the importance of workers."
He added: "In my view, this is a return to commonsense conservatism, which is what the party has been about, before it became market fundamentalism."
In March, Rubio came out in support of Alabama Amazon warehouse workers who were organizing a union campaign.
About 6,000 Amazon warehouse workers in Bessemer started to cast ballots in February on whether to join the Retail, Wholesale and
Department Store Union after workers notified the National Labor Relations Board in November that a vote was set to take place.
''The days of conservatives being taken for granted by the business community are over,'' Rubio wrote in an opinion piece for USA Today. ''Here’s my standard: When the conflict is between working Americans and a company whose leadership has decided to wage culture war against working-class values, the choice is easy — I support the workers. And that’s why I stand with those at Amazon’s Bessemer warehouse today.''
Rubio added: ''Even after historic market gains, its corporate leadership fears the prospect of its workers having an increased say in working conditions, so it’s looking to crush the union vote.''
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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