Marco Rubio. | AP Photo/John Raoux Still backing Trump, Rubio wishes 'we had better choices for President'

MIAMI — Sen. Marco Rubio reiterated his support for Donald Trump on Tuesday, bucking a wave of fellow Republicans who have withdrawn their endorsement or called on him to quit the presidential race after video of his sexually aggressive comments about women were disseminated last week.

“I ran against Donald Trump. And while I respect that voters chose him as the GOP nominee, I have never hesitated to oppose his policies I disagree with. And I have consistently rejected his offensive rhetoric and behavior,” Rubio said in a written statement.


“I disagree with him on many things, but I disagree with his opponent on virtually everything. I wish we had better choices for President,” Rubio continued. “But I do not want Hillary Clinton to be our next President. And therefore my position has not changed.”

Rubio’s decision to restate his support for Trump comes as his Democratic opponent, Rep. Patrick Murphy, has excoriated him for not saying more about Trump since Friday, when the senator took to Twitter to criticize the Republican nominee’s newly released vulgar and sexually aggressive remarks from 2005.

“Florida women and families deserve better than a tweet,” Murphy told reporters Monday on a conference call where he emphasized how "Rubio responded to Donald Trump’s dangerous misogyny with a single tweet and then has been silent ever since.”

On Tuesday afternoon, Murphy tweeted: "Marco Rubio stands for nothing but his own pursuit of power."

There have been no major polls of Florida completed since the release of the "Access Hollywood" video Friday and since Hurricane Matthew began bore down on the state and left wreckage in its wake over the weekend along Florida’s north and central coasts.

The most recent poll, conducted by the University of Florida and completed last week, showed Rubio leading Murphy by 7. An NBC/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll showed Rubio up by 2.

Rubio has led in about two dozen polls. Insiders don’t view Murphy as much of a mortal threat right now to Rubio, but the Republican’s campaign is still taking him seriously. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, for instance, went ahead with its plans to withdraw $1 million in TV ad buys it had planned for Murphy. Along with the Senate Majority PAC, Washington Democrats have yanked $12 million in nearly $21 million in promised ad spending for Murphy.

The same polls showing Rubio ahead also show Trump behind in Florida, a must-win state for the Republican presidential candidate. With numbers like those, Rubio has little incentive to campaign with Trump and won’t do it for the duration of the campaign, a Rubio insider said.

“Marco is 100 percent focused on his reelection. Period,” said the insider.

Rubio will appear at a Tampa Republican Party of Florida fundraising event along with Trump’s running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence. But, the campaign points out, this is not a Trump event. It’s a state GOP fundraiser.

On Thursday, Trump is scheduled to have a noon rally at the South Florida Fair Grounds in the West Palm Beach area. Rubio is not expected to attend — even though he’s scheduled to wrap up a foreign policy speech one hour before at the Boca Raton Synagogue, which is less than 27 miles away and is almost a straight shot on Florida’s Turnpike.

In still standing with Trump, Rubio breaks with fellow swing-state Republican Rob Portman of Ohio, who said he couldn’t back the nominee any more. Arizona Sen. John McCain and New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte also withdrew support.

Rubio's position resembles that of House Speaker Paul Ryan's, whose posture incurred the nominee's wrath and prompted Trump to bash the Wisconsin representative on Twitter.

“Our very weak and ineffective leader, Paul Ryan, had a bad conference call where his members went wild at his disloyalty,” Trump wrote at one point. “It is so nice that the shackles have been taken off me and I can now fight for America the way I want to.”

As for why Rubio decided to speak now, his campaign notes the senator on Friday and Saturday was examining storm damage and focused on hurricane response and recovery. Sunday was the debate, so Rubio had no desire to add to the chorus of critical Republican voices. And Monday was the time to figure out just what to say.

By releasing the statement on Tuesday, Rubio timed the announcement with Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton and Donald Trump’s visits to the state. So it will get largely buried in the news coverage.

In Miami, Clinton emphasized the importance of the Sunshine State. “We need your help. Florida is the key,” Clinton said in an interview with gospel radio host Bishop Victor Curry on Miami’s WMBM-AM 1490. “If we win Florida, there’s no way my opponent can win. That’s why he’s gonna be in Florida today. He knows that.”

Rubio doesn’t want to put too much distance in between himself and Trump, however. Rubio was crushed by Trump in the GOP presidential preference primary in Florida on March 15, when Trump carried nearly 46 percent of the vote to Rubio’s 27 percent. Rubio waged a hard-fought contest against Trump and even made lewd suggestive comments about Trump, for which Rubio later apologized.

Rubio tepidly endorsed Trump as the lesser of two evils and, his campaign and advisers say, these latest remarks aren’t enough to make him believe Clinton is a better choice.

“We can’t lose any of those Republicans,” said a longtime Rubio supporter familiar with his thinking. “Marco almost didn’t run for reelection because he knew that every day he would have to answer for something crazy Donald would say. This was baked in. But it still sucks to have this guy as our nominee.”

UPDATED at 1:20 p.m. with Patrick Murphy tweet against Sen. Marco Rubio for not withdrawing his endorsement of Donald Trump.