Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson says that he is afraid of Marco Rubio’s ability to cut into President Obama’s Latino support.

Richardson, a Mexican-American who ran against Obama in 2008 for the Democratic presidential nomination, said that the freshman Florida senator is one of the Republican Party’s fastest-rising stars who could make the GOP more appealing to Latino voters both in this election and in future ones.

“I like him. And yes, I’m afraid of him because I think he is an attractive politician, well prepared. And he is Cuban-American and to me that is positive,” Richardson said in an interview on Univision’s Al Punto. “Because I want all Hispanics in the Republican Party, in the Democratic Party, whether Latin Americans, Central Americans, Cubans, Mexicans, I want us to unite.”

Richardson went on to say that if Mitt Romney chooses him as his running mate, Rubio could steal votes away from Obama in battleground states with large Latino voter populations, though Richardson said it wouldn’t be enough to outright defeat Obama.

Read more at Univision News