Marco Rubio (28 May 1971-) was a Republican United States Senator from Florida from 3 January 2011 to 20 January 2025 (succeeding George LeMieux and preceding Ashley Moody) and United States Secretary of State from 20 January 2025 (succeeding Antony Blinken).
Biography[]
Marco Rubio was born on 28 May 1971 in Miami, Florida to a family of Cuban immigrants, and his mother worked as a maid. Rubio received a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Florida in 1993 and his law doctorate from the University of Miami School of Law in 1996, and he was elected to the state legislature in 1999 for the US Republican Party. In December 2002, he became House Majority Leader, and on 13 September 2005 he became Speaker of the State House of Representatives. In 2011, Rubio was elected as one of the two senators from the state, but he was criticized for not showing up to Congress when it convened. Republicans were in the minority in the Senate, but in January 2015 they became the majority. Rubio joined the "Gang of Eight" in their attempts at reforming immigration laws, but in 2013 he delivered the Republican reaction to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address in both English and Spanish, which he spoke fluently and with an accent.
Presidential campaign[]
Rubio on the campaign trail in 2015
In 2016, Rubio ran for president, as did former state Governor Jeb Bush. Initially colleagues, they became rivals in the race, and Bush's dropout in February 2016 allowed for Rubio to gain many of his former supporters. On 6 February 2016 Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey criticized his repetitive statements during a debate at St. Anselm College before the New Hampshire caucus, his "25-second speech". He promised that it would not happen again, and he maintained a high position in the polls, usually third place after Ted Cruz and Donald Trump. During the 25 February 2016 debate in Texas, Rubio criticized Trump for speaking repetitively as well, and he launched Trump-like attacks against Trump, saying that he was having a meltdown backstage and that he was applying makeup around his "sweat mustache". On 25 March 2016, Rubio dropped out of the race, and he decided to run for the Senate again, defeating Patrick Murphy to win re-election in 2016.
In 2025, Trump appointed Rubio to serve as the United States' first Hispanic Secretary of State, despite Rubio's neoconservative views clashing with Trump's isolationism.