Marco Rubio
United States Senator from Florida
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2011 Serving with Bill Nelson
Preceded by	George LeMieux
Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives
In office January 2, 2007 – January 3, 2009
Preceded by	Allan Bense
Succeeded by	Ray Sansom
Member of the Florida House of Representatives from the 111th district
In office January 25, 2000 – January 2, 2009
Preceded by	Carlos Valdes
Succeeded by	Erik Fresen
Personal details
Born	Marco Antonio Rubio (1971-05-28) May 28, 1971 (age 43) Miami, Florida, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Jeanette Dousdebes
Children	4
Education	Tarkio College Santa Fe College University of Florida (B.A.) University of Miami (J.D.)
Religion	Roman Catholicism
Website	Senate website Campaign website

Marco Antonio Rubio (born May 28, 1971) is the junior United States Senator from Florida, serving since January 2011. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives (2007–2009).

A Cuban American native of Miami, Florida, Rubio is a graduate of the University of Florida and the University of Miami Law School. In the late 1990s, he served as a City Commissioner for West Miami and was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 2000, representing the 111th House district. He was elected Speaker in November 2006.

Rubio announced a run for U.S. Senate in May 2009 after incumbent Republican Mel Martinez resigned. Initially trailing by double-digits against the incumbent Republican Governor Charlie Crist, Rubio eventually surpassed him in polling for the Republican nomination. Rubio won the Republican nomination after Crist opted instead to run with no party affiliation. In a three-way split against Crist and Democratic candidate Kendrick Meek, Rubio won the general election in November 2010 with 48.9 percent of the vote. He is one of three Latinos in the Senate, along with Bob Menendez of New Jersey and Ted Cruz of Texas.^[1]

On April 13, 2015, Rubio announced his candidacy for president in 2016.

Early life, education, and political career[edit]

Rubio was born in Miami, Florida,^[2] the second son and third child of Mario Rubio and Oria Garcia. His parents were Cubans who had immigrated to the United States in 1956 and were naturalized as U.S. citizens in 1975.^[3] Rubio's maternal grandfather, Pedro Victor Garcia, also immigrated legally to the U.S. in 1956, but returned to Cuba to find work in 1959.^[4] When he returned to the U.S. in 1962 without a visa, U.S. embassies in Cuba being closed, an immigration judge ordered him deported.^[4][5] U.S. immigration authorities ultimately used their discretion to allow him to remain in the U.S. without a visa.^[4] In 2012, The Associated Press concluded that Garcia might have been undocumented for four years, from 1962 to 1966.^[6]

In October 2011, the St. Petersburg Times and The Washington Post reported that Rubio's previous statements that his parents were forced to leave Cuba in 1959, after Fidel Castro came to power, were incorrect. His parents left Cuba in 1956, during the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. According to The Washington Post, Rubio's "embellishments" resonated with many voters in Florida, who would not be as impressed by his family being economic migrants seeking a better life in the U.S. instead of political refugees from a communist regime.^[3] Rubio responded: "The real essence of my family's story is not about the date my parents first entered the United States. Or whether they traveled back and forth between the two nations. Or even the date they left Fidel Castro's Cuba forever and permanently settled here. The essence of my family story is why they came to America in the first place; and why they had to stay."^[7]

Rubio's family was Roman Catholic, though from age 8 to age 11, he and his family attended The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints while they lived in Las Vegas,^[8] where his father worked as a bartender at Sams Town Hotel and his mother a housekeeper at the Imperial Palace Hotel and Casino.^[9] 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 married in the Catholic Church.^[10][11]

Rubio attended South Miami Senior High School and graduated in 1989. He then attended Tarkio College for one year on a football scholarship from 1989 to 1990, before enrolling at Santa Fe Community College (now Santa Fe College). He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from the University of Florida in 1993, and his J.D. degree cum laude from the University of Miami School of Law in 1996.^[12][13] Rubio said that his education resulted in $100,000 of student loans, which he paid off in 2012.^[14]

While studying law, Rubio interned for U.S. Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.^[15] He also worked on Republican Senator Bob Dole's 1996 presidential campaign.^[16][17] He served as a City Commissioner for West Miami before being elected to the Florida House of Representatives in early 2000.^[13]