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Capitol View®
Brian Bakst

Rubio nets backing from two dozen state legislators

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Majority leader Rep. Joyce Peppin, R-Rogers, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2015, during the House session at the State Capitol. Jennifer Simonson | MPR News file

Two dozen Republicans in the Minnesota Legislature are lining up behind presidential hopeful Marco Rubio, including a pair from the leadership ranks.

House Majority Leader Joyce Peppin, R-Rogers and Senate Minority Leader David Hann, R-Eden Prairie, headline the list of new endorsers released Thursday by Rubio's campaign. The roster includes both rural and suburban lawmakers.

Hann joins the Rubio fray after initially supporting former computer technology executive Carly Fiorina, who left the race earlier this month.

One leading Republican who hasn't picked sides yet is House Speaker Kurt Daudt. He got behind Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker shortly before Walker's campaign fizzled. He didn't return a text message Thursday inquiring about his latest thinking on the race.

Other GOP lawmakers are behind Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. That includes noted House fiscal hawk, state Rep. Steve Drazkowski of Mazeppa. So far no sitting legislators are publicly behind national front-runner Donald Trump.

While the political payoff for endorsements is debatable, the local leaders give campaigns extra voices at precinct caucuses. Minnesota's turn to vote in the Democratic and Republican nomination battles comes Tuesday.

Here's the list of new Rubio backers:

Senate Minority Leader David Hann

House Majority Leader Joyce Peppin

Sen. Gary Dahms

Sen. Scott Newman

Sen. Eric Pratt

Sen. Julie Rosen

Sen. David Senjem

Sen. Bill Weber

House Speaker Pro Tempore Tim O’Driscoll

Rep. Tony Albright

Rep. Sarah Anderson

Rep. Peggy Bennett

Rep. Drew Christensen

Rep. Brian Daniels

Rep. Jon Koznick

Rep. Bob Loonan

Rep. Denny McNamara

Rep. Roz Peterson

Rep. Duane Quam

Rep. Linda Runbeck

Rep. Tim Sanders

Rep. Dennis Smith

Rep. Mark Uglem

Rep. Dean Urdahl