Plane carrying Sen. Marco Rubio forced to make emergency landing

(CNN) -- Sen. Marco Rubio delivered a speech by telephone Saturday, July 28th after his plane made an "emergency landing" in Albuquerque, New Mexico, preventing him from physically making it to a Mitt Romney rally in Des Moines, Iowa.

"Not one, but two planes I was on today had malfunctions," Rubio tweeted. "Second one forced to make emergency landing in New Mexico. I know how to take a hint!"

Rubio also said he was looking forward to the rally, but the replacement plane would not arrive in time for him to make it.

A spokesman for the Albuquerque International Sunport told CNN that the plane may have had an electrical issue.

"We did have a private plane land here at about 3:58 local and they had a sensor that indicated that it could be an electrical problem," spokesman Daniel Jiron said. "They went to Atlantic Aviation to make a determination on the issue."

Rachel Sandoval with Atlantic Aviation said four passengers were aboard the jet, and that passengers thought the battery was overheating and believed they saw smoke.

Rubio is a high-profile surrogate for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, and was scheduled to hold a campaign event for Romney in Iowa at 7 p.m. ET on Sunday. Earlier in the day, he attended an event in Las Vegas.

-- CNN's Steve Brusk and Elwyn Lopez contributed to this report