Marco Rubio
Marco Rubio (born 1971) is an American politician and lawyer, a Republican who served as speaker of the Florida House of Representatives and as a U.S.United StatesThe United States is a federal country in North America made up of 50 states, the District of Columbia as the seat of government, and territories such as Puerto Rico and Guam; its capital is Washington, D.C. The Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The 2020 census (April 1, 2020) counted a resident population of 331,449,281, and the 435 seats of the House of Representatives are apportioned among the states on the basis of the census.Open the full entry senator from FloridaFloridaFlorida is a U.S. state occupying mainly the Florida peninsula, with its capital at Tallahassee; its most populous city is Jacksonville. It entered the Union on March 3, 1845, as the 27th state, and had a population of 21,538,187 in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020).Open the full entry, and has been the 72nd U.S. secretary of state since 2025.
Contents14 sections
Key facts
May 28, 1971Born in Miami
Marco Antonio Rubio was born on May 28, 1971, in Miami, Florida, to Cuban immigrant parents. His father worked as a banquet bartender, while his mother divided her time between staying at home and working as a hotel maid.[1][2][3]
His State Department biography says that his interest in public service was shaped in part by conversations with his grandfather, who had witnessed communism in Cuba.[3]
1989–1996Education
Rubio graduated from South Miami Senior High School in 1989, received a B.S. in political science from the University of Florida in 1993 and earned a J.D. cum laude from the University of Miami in 1996. In 1996 he was Miami-Dade County director of Bob Dole’s presidential campaign.[2]
2000–2008Florida House of Representatives and Speakership
After marrying Jeanette, Rubio served as a city commissioner in West Miami. He was a member of the Florida House of Representatives from 2000 to 2008, serving as majority whip, majority leader and speaker of the House.[3][2]
He also worked as an attorney with the law firm Broad and Cassel and in his own practice, and as of July 2020 had been a lecturer and senior fellow at Florida International University since 2009.[2]
November 2, 2010Elected U.S. Senator from Florida
2011–2025Legislative Work in the Senate
His State Department biography says that in the Senate Rubio served as vice chair of the Select Committee on Intelligence, wrote and passed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, co-led the Hong Kong Relations Act and the VERDAD Act, and created the Paycheck Protection Program during the COVID-19 pandemic.[3]
November 8, 2016Reelected
Rubio was reelected to the Senate on November 8, 2016. As of July 2020 he chaired the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and served on the Appropriations and Foreign Relations committees, the Special Committee on Aging and the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe.[2]
November 2024–January 2025Nomination and Confirmation as Secretary of State
In November 2024 President-elect Donald Trump nominated Rubio as secretary of state. On January 15, 2025, the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations held a hearing on the nomination in Room SD-419 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.[3][5]
On January 20, 2025, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved the nomination 22–0, and the full Senate then confirmed Rubio as secretary of state by a vote of 99–0, making him the first cabinet member confirmed in the second Trump administration. He resigned from the Senate the same day, and Ashley MoodyAshley MoodyAshley Moody is an American Republican politician and lawyer, a former federal prosecutor and circuit judge in Florida’s Thirteenth Judicial Circuit, who served as Florida’s 38th attorney general from 2019 to 2025. She has represented Florida in the U.S. Senate since January 2025 and won the November 2026 special Senate election.Open the full entry was appointed to the seat on January 21.[6][4][3]
January 21, 2025Sworn In as 72nd Secretary of State
February–March 2025: Acting USAID Administrator and Foreign Assistance Reorganization
On February 3, 2025, the State Department announced that Rubio had been appointed acting administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), describing it as an interim step toward gaining control of the agency’s activities; Rubio had notified Congress that a review of USAID’s foreign assistance activities was under way and might lead to reorganization.[8]
On March 28, 2025, Rubio issued a statement saying that the State Department and USAID had notified Congress of a reorganization plan under which certain USAID functions would move to the State Department by July 1, 2025, and functions not aligned with administration priorities would be discontinued.[9]
May 1, 2025Interim National Security Advisor
On May 1, 2025, Donald Trump announced that Rubio would replace Mike Waltz as national security advisor on an interim basis while keeping his post as secretary of state; Waltz was to be nominated as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.[10]
As of November 2026: Secretary of State
Family
Rubio and his wife, Jeanette, have four children: Amanda, Daniella, Anthony and Dominick.[2]
Related Organizations, Websites, and Public Accounts
U.S. Department of State: Official website: https://www.state.gov/ (opens in a new window).[3]
United States Senate: Official website: https://www.senate.gov/ (opens in a new window).[4]
The White House: Official website: https://www.whitehouse.gov/ (opens in a new window).[11]
Sources
- Marco Rubio (opens in a new window)
- Congressional Directory for the 116th Congress (2019-2020), July 2020. (opens in a new window)
- Marco Rubio (opens in a new window)
- U.S. Senate: States in the Senate | Florida Senators (opens in a new window)
- NOMINATIONS (opens in a new window)
- Senate confirms Marco Rubio as secretary of State (opens in a new window)
- Marco Rubio - People - Department History (opens in a new window)
- Secretary Marco Rubio Appointed as Acting Administrator for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) (opens in a new window)
- On Delivering an America First Foreign Assistance Program (opens in a new window)
- Trump names Secretary of State Rubio as acting national security adviser, taps Waltz for UN envoy (opens in a new window)
- The Cabinet (opens in a new window)