This could be awkward.
A number of Republicans running for the White House in 2016 endorsed their now-rivals in past presidential contests.
“Look, I endorsed John Kasich when he ran in ’99,” former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum recalled while meeting with several journalists at a Washington D.C. restaurant this week.
Kasich, then a congressman but now governor of Ohio, announced an exploratory committee for president in 1999 but dropped out just months later and endorsed George W. Bush. But his friend Rick Santorum was a supporter of his short-lived bid.
“I was in the House,” Santorum explained. “He was my best friend in the House.”
Now, Santorum and Kasich, who jumped into the 2016 race Tuesday, are running against each other. But that doesn’t mean Santorum is reluctant to contrast his views with his old friend’s.
“I certainly disagree with him on Medicaid expansion,” Santorum said, listing a frequent conservative criticism of Kasich’s governorship.
In 2008, Marco Rubio endorsed Mike Huckabee’s Republican presidential campaign.
“For those of us who consider ourselves to be Reagan conservatives, Mike Huckabee is our best chance to win the nomination,” Rubio said in 2007. “People are looking for genuineness and sincerity in politics. He has those qualities as well as the positive leadership skills needed to run our country.”
A video on a “Mike Huckabee for President” YouTube channel shows Rubio, then speaker of the Florida House, discussing his support for Huckabee while campaigning in New Hampshire.
Huckabee paid back the favor, endorsing Rubio for the U.S. Senate in the 2010 Florida Senate race.
During the 2012 race, Texas Gov. Rick Perry won the endorsement of both Ted Cruz, now a senator, and Bobby Jindal, the Louisiana governor. Now, all three are running for the same job.
“I proudly and enthusiastically endorse my governor of Texas, Rick Perry, for president,” Cruz told The Daily Caller’s Matt Lewis in 2011. “He’s going to be an extraordinary president.”
“I know Governor Perry,” Cruz said. “I’ve worked with him. I represented Gov. Perry in court. He’s a true conservative. And he is a fighter in his DNA, and we desperately need a strong conservative fighter to take the lead and fight to stop the Obama agenda. And Rick Perry, I believe, is the right candidate to do exactly that.”
Jindal not only endorsed Perry in the last election, he traveled to early states to campaign on his behalf.
“Rick Perry is the candidate who can lead our party to victory in 2012,” Jindal said in September 2011. “His record on job creation simply cannot be beat, and the one million jobs he’s helped create as governor is a stark contrast to the 2.4 million jobs lost on President Obama’s watch.”
At the time of the endorsement, Perry praised Jindal.
“His efforts to cut taxes and reduce unreasonable regulations are helping the Louisiana economy grow, and that is exactly what I aim to do for America,” Perry said of Jindal. “I look forward to continuing to work with him throughout this campaign, and with his help, we’ll get America working again.”
But perhaps the most damaging past alliance isn’t inside the GOP primary: Donald Trump, while he didn’t officially endorse Hillary Clinton for president in 2008, has a history of giving money to her and her family’s foundation.
Here are the 2016 Republican candidates who endorsed now-rivals in past GOP primaries:
Bobby Jindal endorsed Rick Perry for president in the 2012 race.
Ted Cruz endorsed Rick Perry for president in the 2012 race.
Marco Rubio endorsed Mike Huckabee for president in the 2008 race.
Rick Santorum endorsed John Kasich for president in the 2000 race.