Cruz courted Rubio heavily for unity ticket: report

Former Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz heavily courted Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) for a unity ticket in an effort to prevent Donald Trump from clinching the party’s nomination, according to CNN.

Back in March, the Texas senator was reportedly weighing the possibility of teaming up with Rubio and conducted polling about how the duo would fare in future primary contests. Rubio, who ended his own presidential bid after losing his home state of Florida to Trump, said he wasn’t interested, and Cruz later dismissed reports he was considering such a ticket.

{mosads}But now, sources close to both campaigns have told CNN the results of the polling and delved into the reasons why Rubio was hesitant to jump on board.

Sources close to Cruz said the his campaign surveyed three March 15 contests — in Illinois, Missouri and North Carolina — as well as later primaries in Arizona and Wisconsin.

The source described the results as a “blowout” and said the polls found Trump, now the presumptive GOP nominee, losing by 30 points.

Cruz, however, had difficulty contacting Rubio to discuss the plan.

“He went off the grid,” a source close to Cruz told CNN.

But a source close to Rubio told the network there was no formal offer from Cruz’s camp and reiterated that the Florida senator wasn’t interested in a unity ticket.

The source said Rubio cautioned that having two U.S. senators on one ticket would play into Trump’s anti-Washington hand, while other sources said he thought that Cruz should choose his running mate at the GOP convention and not during primary season.

Sources close to John Kasich said the Ohio governor also attempted to get Rubio on the ballot with him, but Kasich’s presidential campaign never conducted any polling.