It’s an unusual personal detour on an otherwise straightforward path: Marco Rubio’s brief history as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

He doesn’t talk about it much, if ever, on the campaign trail, but it might turn out to be his early-state ace in the hole.


Rubio is subtly leveraging his LDS background to build support in Nevada, where the state’s LDS community isn’t huge — Mormons make up just a small percentage of the population — but represents an influential constituency in Republican politics.

Rubio has held kitchen-table meetings and private meet-and-greets with prominent LDS church leaders, lining up support from some of the top Mormon names in Nevada politics, including Lt. Gov. Mark Hutchison. Hutchison recently barnstormed northern Nevada with Rubio, personally introducing the Florida senator at stops along the way.

“In touring with Hutchison, that’s a really good way to let everyone know in the LDS community that Marco is doing the legwork,” said Steve Fellows, a 2012 fundraiser for Mitt Romney and a former Mormon bishop, who hasn’t endorsed a candidate yet.

As state chairman for Rubio’s campaign, Hutchison also hosted a backyard event at his Las Vegas home in July attended by state legislators, activists and political operatives — roughly half of them LDS members. Standing on a basketball court emblazoned with the Brigham Young University logo, Rubio emphasized his conservative bona fides before a crowd of nearly 200 guests and revisited his history with Las Vegas, where he spent several years as a child.

But he did not talk about a hallmark of his time in Las Vegas — his conversion to Mormonism in grade school. The Rubio campaign — which declined to talk for this story — is acutely aware of the need to step lightly around the nexus of politics and religion, and especially the question of the senator’s own faith journey.

Rubio’s conversion came at the age of 8 while his family lived in Las Vegas, as documented in his 2012 book “American Son.” But he felt “called” to return to Catholicism, receiving his first communion at 13 years old.

In the book, Rubio offered a glimpse into the family backstory.

“All in all, the Mormon church provided the sound moral structure my mother had wanted for us, and a circle of friends from stable, God-fearing families,” he wrote. “When we left the church a few years later, mostly at my instigation, we did so with gratitude for its considerable contribution to our happiness in those years.”

Rubio has extended family in Nevada, many of whom are still part of the Mormon Church, including Democratic state Sen. Mo Denis. Though Rubio eventually left the church, his familiarity with the faith and its teachings are noticed and appreciated.

Attendees of the July event in Las Vegas thought Rubio struck the right chord by avoiding direct mention of his LDS years.

“It would’ve been a misstep if he had done that, too obvious,” said state Assemblyman Erven Nelson, a Mormon who’s backing Rubio.

“It would look like pandering,” said Paul Anderson, another LDS state legislator who attended the event but ultimately decided to back former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. “But events like the one at Hutchison’s house, that has a whole lot more sway because it’s authentic, it has a personal touch, that’s how you win over [Mormon] voters.”

Rubio’s ability to win over LDS voters could go a long way in the first state to vote in the West, where Mormons represent roughly a quarter of caucus-goers, according to 2012 entrance polls. Mitt Romney won by a landslide margin among them — 88 percent — on his way to winning 50 percent statewide. While no one expects Rubio to come anywhere close to Romney’s support — Romney would have been the nation’s first Mormon president — any advantage could prove decisive in Nevada’s low-turnout caucuses.

“In Nevada, LDS voters are a critical voting bloc. They are civically active, organized, highly informed and incredibly influential,” said Jack St. Martin, president of Engage Nevada, a nonpartisan voter registration group. “Just look at the number of past and present LDS elected officials, of both parties, and you understand how much they enrich Nevada politics.”

With Hutchison — who endorsed Rubio in May — serving as his ambassador, the Florida senator has managed to amass an impressive roster of endorsements from politically prominent LDS members. Among them: Bruce Woodbury, a former Clark County commissioner featured in a Romney radio ad in 2012; Wayne Tew, a former stake president; and Kevin Stolworthy, a local attorney and stake president.

“If Mark Hutchison had not called me and personally talked to me about him, and invited me to this event, I wouldn’t be looking at [Rubio], I really wouldn’t,” said Heidi Wixom, an unaffiliated Mormon activist in east Las Vegas, who’s been courted by several campaigns.

“When someone talks to you about a candidate and why they’re supporting them, it makes you think. If it’s someone you admire and trust their judgment, it makes a difference in this community.”

“Take a stake president … who is in charge of 5,000 people,” said Anderson, the state legislator. “When you have someone like that who endorses Rubio, that has a trickle-down effect.”

Rubio isn’t alone in trying to tap into the Mormon vote. Jeb Bush has hired the same consulting team that ran Romney’s race in the state in 2012 and picked up nods from Republican Sens. Dean Heller and Orrin Hatch of Utah, both Mormons, who endorsed the former Florida governor last month.

Rubio, however, saw the opportunity and moved faster, several Nevada operatives said.

“[Scott] Walker and [Ben] Carson resonate with Mormons too, but they haven’t done as well as Rubio, and gotten as immersed as Rubio has,” Tew said. Rubio “mobilized here better than Carson or Walker did. Either Walker or Carson could have done that too, but they didn’t.”