Marco Rubio facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Marco Rubio
Official portrait, 2025
72nd United States Secretary of State
Incumbent
Assumed office January 21, 2025
President	Donald Trump
Preceded by	Antony Blinken
Acting Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development
Incumbent
Assumed office February 3, 2025
President	Donald Trump
Preceded by	Jason Gray
United States Senator from Florida
In office January 3, 2011 – January 20, 2025
Preceded by	George LeMieux
Succeeded by	Ashley Moody
Committee positions Vice Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee In office February 3, 2021 – January 3, 2025 Preceded by Mark Warner Succeeded by Mark Warner Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee Acting In office May 18, 2020 – February 3, 2021 Preceded by Richard Burr Succeeded by Mark Warner Chair of the Senate Small Business Committee In office January 3, 2019 – February 3, 2021 Preceded by Jim Risch Succeeded by Ben Cardin
94th Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives
In office November 21, 2006 – November 18, 2008
Preceded by	Allan Bense
Succeeded by	Ray Sansom
Member of the Florida House of Representatives from the 111th district
In office January 25, 2000 – November 18, 2008
Preceded by	Carlos Valdes
Succeeded by	Erik Fresen
Personal details
Born	Marco Antonio Rubio (1971-05-28) May 28, 1971 (age 53) Miami, Florida, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Jeanette Dousdebes ​ (m. 1998)​
Children	4
Education	University of Florida (BA) University of Miami (JD)
Signature

Marco Antonio Rubio ( born May 28, 1971) is an American politician, diplomat, and attorney serving as the 72nd United States secretary of state and acting administrator of USAID since 2025. A member of the Republican Party, he served from 2011 to 2025 as a United States senator from Florida and from 2006 to 2008 as the speaker of the Florida House of Representatives.

Early life and education

Rubio's 1989 high school yearbook photo

Marco Antonio Rubio was born in Miami, Florida, the second son and third child of Mario Rubio Reina and Oriales (née García) Rubio. His parents were Cubans who immigrated to the United States in 1956 during the regime of Fulgencio Batista, two and a half years before Fidel Castro ascended to power after the Cuban Revolution.

Rubio has three siblings: older brother Mario, older sister Barbara (married to Orlando Cicilia), and younger sister Veronica (formerly married to entertainer Carlos Ponce). Growing up, his family was Catholic, though from age 8 to age 11 he and his family attended the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints while living in Las Vegas. During those years in Nevada, his father worked as a bartender at Sam's Town Hotel and his mother as a housekeeper at the Imperial Palace Hotel and Casino. He received his first communion as a Catholic in 1984 before moving back to Miami with his family a year later. He was confirmed and later married in the Catholic Church.

Rubio attended South Miami Senior High School, graduating in 1989. He attended Tarkio College in Missouri for one year on a football scholarship before enrolling at Santa Fe Community College (later Santa Fe College) in Gainesville, Florida. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from the University of Florida in 1993 and his Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the University of Miami School of Law in 1996. Rubio has said that he incurred $100,000 in student loans. He paid off those loans in 2012.

Career

Rubio with Floridians at Camp Leatherneck in Afghanistan in January 2011

Rubio visiting Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in May 2012

Rubio prior to delivering the response to the State of the Union address in February 2013

Rubio in November 2015

President Donald Trump (left) with FEMA administrator Brock Long (center) and Rubio in September 2017

Rubio meeting with Venezuelan presidential candidate and opposition leader Juan Guaidó in February 2020

Rubio with Taiwan's president Tsai Ing-wen in June 2016

Rubio and President Trump (left) visit a fourth-grade classroom in Orlando, Florida on March 3, 2017

Rubio is a Cuban American from Miami, Florida. After serving as a city commissioner for West Miami in the 1990s, he was elected to represent the 111th district in the Florida House of Representatives in 2000. Subsequently, he was elected speaker of the Florida House; he served for two years beginning in November 2006. Upon leaving the Florida legislature in 2008 due to term limits, Rubio taught at Florida International University.

In a three-way race, Rubio was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2010. In April 2015, he launched a presidential bid instead of seeking reelection. He suspended his campaign for the presidency on March 15, 2016, after losing to Donald Trump in the Florida Republican primary. He then ran for reelection to the Senate and won a second term.

Despite his criticism of Trump during the 2016 Republican presidential primaries, Rubio endorsed him before the 2016 general election and was largely supportive of his presidency. Due to his influence on U.S. policy on Latin America during the first Trump administration, he was described as a "virtual secretary of state for Latin America". He is also considered to have been one of Congress's most hawkish members with regard to China and the Chinese Communist Party.

Rubio became Florida's senior senator in January 2019, following the defeat of former Senator Bill Nelson, and was reelected to a third term in 2022, defeating Democratic nominee Val Demings in a landslide victory. Rubio endorsed Trump for president in 2024 days before the Iowa caucuses.

In November 2024, President-elect Trump announced his intention to nominate Rubio as United States Secretary of State in his second administration. Rubio was confirmed unanimously by the U.S. Senate and took office on January 21, 2025.

Secretary of State (2025–present)

Vice President JD Vance swears in Marco Rubio on January 21, 2025.

Rubio with Quad member countries' foreign ministers; S. Jaishankar, Penny Wong, and Takeshi Iwaya, 2025

He is the first Latino to serve in the position, making him the highest-ranking Hispanic American official in U.S. history. Rubio is also the first Floridian to serve as Secretary of State.

On January 24, 2025, Rubio announced the United States had rejoined the Geneva Consensus Declaration; a joint international agreement supporting women’s rights and optimal health.

In his first trip abroad as secretary of state, Rubio will travel to Panama, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and the Dominican Republic. The trip is intended to address curtailing illegal migration and Trump’s push to reclaim the Panama Canal.

In February 2025, Rubio met with El Salvador President Nayib Bukele and reached an agreement for the country to take in deported foreign nationals who committed crimes, in addition to jailed U.S. citizens and permanent residents.

Rubio meeting with Michael Waltz and Pete Hegseth, January 28, 2025

Rubio supported Trump's proposal that the U.S. take over the Gaza Strip, saying that the U.S. "stands ready to lead and Make Gaza Beautiful Again" and pursues a lasting peace in the region for all people.

Political positions

Rubio supports balancing the federal budget, while prioritizing defense spending. He rejects the scientific consensus on climate change, which is that climate change is real, progressing, harmful, and primarily caused by humans, arguing that human activity does not play a major role and claiming that proposals to address climate change would be ineffective and economically harmful. He opposes the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and has voted to repeal it.

Rubio with former secretary of state Henry Kissinger in November 2011

Rubio supports setting corporate taxes at 25%, reforming the tax code, and capping economic regulations, and proposes to increase the social security retirement age based on longer life expectancy. He supports expanding public charter schools, opposes Common Core State Standards, and advocates closing the federal Department of Education.

Rubio's foreign policy approach has been described as "interventionist" and "hawkish". He is supportive of the Trans Pacific Partnership, saying that the U.S. risks being excluded from global trade unless it is more open to trade. On capital punishment, Rubio favors streamlining the appeals process.

Rubio is very hawkish in regard to China and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and has been called one of the U.S. Congress's most hawkish members on China. Rubio believes that without a major effort to defeat China, the world is headed to "a new dark age of exploitation, conquest, and totalitarianism".

Rubio with Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro in March 2020

Rubio is a staunch supporter of Israel.

Personal life

Rubio (left) and his wife Jeanette after Rubio was sworn in as a U.S. senator by then-Vice President Joe Biden in January 2011

Rubio is Catholic and attends Mass at Church of the Little Flower in Coral Gables, Florida. He previously attended Christ Fellowship, a Southern Baptist Church in West Kendall, Florida.

In 1998, Rubio married Jeanette Dousdebes, a former bank teller and Miami Dolphins cheerleader, in a Catholic ceremony at the Church of the Little Flower. They have four children. Rubio and his family live in West Miami, Florida.

As of 2018, according to OpenSecrets.org, Rubio's net worth was negative, owing more than $1.8 million.

Electoral history

Honors and awards

Foreign honors

•  Romania :
  • Commander of the Order of the Star of Romania (2017)

Awards and recognitions

• Everglades Champions award (2019)
• Democracy Award for Innovation and Modernization (2024)

Images for kids

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  Rubio and Mario Díaz-Balart in 2001

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  Rubio's official portrait as a Florida State Representative

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  Then Speaker-Designate Rubio challenging Florida House colleagues to help write 100 Innovative Ideas For Florida's Future in September 2005

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  Rubio as chairman of the Florida House Select Committee on Private Property Rights in October 2005

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  Rubio with Democratic leader Dan Gelber in 2007

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  Florida House Speaker Rubio and Senate President Ken Pruitt embrace after the Florida House's unanimous approval of the Florida Senate]]'s resolution to formally express deep regret for slavery in March 2008

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  Rubio's portrait during the
  112th Congress

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  Rubio with Israeli president Shimon Peres during a trip to Israel in February 2013

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  Rubio touring the U.S.-Mexican border in November 2011 with Border Patrol officials

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  Senator Rubio speaks at the 2014 Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland

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  Rubio applauds Florida governor Ron DeSantis during an event with the Venezuelan American community in February 2019

See also

In Spanish: Marco Rubio para niños

• Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act
• Republican Party presidential candidates, 2016
• Florida Republican primary, 2016
• List of Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States Congress