Rubio is aCuban American fromMiami, Florida, and attended law school at theUniversity of Miami. After serving as acity commissioner forWest Miami in the 1990s, he was elected in 2000 to represent the 111th district in theFlorida House of Representatives. As the Republican majority leader, he was subsequently electedspeaker of the Florida House; he served for two years beginning in November 2006. Rubio left the Florida legislature in 2008 due to term limits, and began teaching atFlorida International University. In a three-way race, Rubio was elected to the U.S. Senate in2010. In April 2015, he launcheda presidential bid instead of seeking reelection. He suspended his campaign for the presidency on March 15, 2016, after losing toDonald Trump in theFlorida Republican primary. He then ran for reelection to the Senate and won asecond term. Despite his criticism of Trump during his presidential campaign, Rubio endorsed him before the2016 general election and was largely supportive of his presidency.
In November 2024,President-elect Trump announced his intention to nominate Rubio to be secretary of state in hissecond administration. Rubio was confirmed unanimously by the U.S. Senate and took office on January 21, 2025. On May 1, 2025, Trump announced that Rubio would become acting national security advisor, replacingMike Waltz, while continuing to serve as secretary of state. This dual role was last held byHenry Kissinger from 1973 to 1975 (serving a combined tenure in one or both positions from 1969 to 1977) in theNixon andFord administrations. Rubio is also the actingarchivist of the United States. He was the last actingUSAID administrator before the agency was abolished. He is the first Latino to serve as secretary of state or act as national security advisor, making him the highest-rankingHispanic American official in U.S. history.
Marco Antonio Rubio was born in 1971 inMiami, Florida.[2] He is the second son and third child of Mario Rubio Reina[3] and Oriales (née García) Rubio.[4] His parents were Cubans who immigrated to the United States in 1956 during the regime ofFulgencio Batista, two and a half years beforeFidel Castro ascended to power after theCuban Revolution.[5] His mother made at least four return trips to Cuba after Castro's takeover, including a month-long trip in 1961,[5] and a return to Cuba had been planned before the changes in their native country. Rubio's parents were not U.S. citizens at the time of Rubio's birth.[6][7] They werenaturalized in 1975.[5] Some relatives of Rubio's were admitted to the U.S. as refugees.[8]
Rubio's maternal grandfather, Pedro Victor Garcia, immigrated to the U.S. legally in 1956, but returned toCuba to find work in 1959.[9] Whenin 1962 he fled communist Cuba and returned to the U.S. without avisa,[8] he was detained as an undocumented immigrant and an immigration judge ordered him to bedeported.[9][10][11] But immigration officials reversed their decision later that day, and the deportation order was not enforced. Instead, Garcia was reclassified to the legal status of "parolee" that allowed him to stay in the U.S.[8][12][13] He reapplied for permanent resident status in 1966 after theCuban Adjustment Act passed, and his residency was approved.[8] Rubio had a close relationship with his grandfather during his childhood.[8]
In October 2011,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 falsehoods.[5] His parents left Cuba in 1956, during the Batista regime.[5] According to thePost, "[in] Florida, being connected to the post-revolution exile community gives a politician cachet that could never be achieved by someone identified with the pre-Castro exodus, a group sometimes viewed with suspicion".[5] Rubio denied that he had embellished his family history, stating that his public statements about his family were based on "family lore".[5] Rubio asserted that his parents intended to return to Cuba in the 1960s.[5] He added that his mother took his two elder siblings back to Cuba in 1961 with the intention of living there permanently (his father remained behind in Miami "wrapping up the family's matters"), but the nation's move toward communism caused the family to change its plans.[5] Rubio said that the "essence of my family story is why they came to America in the first place and why they had to stay".[14]
Rubio has three siblings: older brother Mario, older sister Barbara (married to Orlando Cicilia), and younger sister Veronica (formerly married to entertainerCarlos Ponce).[15] Growing up, his family wasCatholic, though from ages 8 to11 he and his family attendedthe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints while living in Las Vegas.[16] During those years in Nevada, his father worked as a bartender at Sam's Town Hotel and his mother as a housekeeper at theImperial Palace Hotel and Casino.[17]
Rubio received hisfirst communion as a Catholic in 1984 before moving with his family back to Miami a year later. He was confirmed. Although he changed religious affiliations several times, he was married in the Catholic Church.[18][19]
In late 1999, aspecial election was called to fill the seat for the 111th House District in theFlorida House of Representatives, representing Miami.[30] It was considered a safe Republican seat, so Rubio's main challenge was to win the GOP nomination. He campaigned as a moderate, advocating tax cuts andearly childhood education.[29]
Rubio placed second in the Republican primary on December 14, 1999,[31] but won the runoff election for the Republican nomination, defeating Angel Zayon (a television and radio reporter who was popular with Cuban exiles) by 64 votes.[29][32] He defeated Democrat Anastasia Garcia with 72% of the vote in a January 25, 2000, special election.[33]
In November 2000, Rubio was reelected unopposed.[34] In 2002, he was reelected to a second term unopposed.[35] In 2004, he was reelected to a third term with 66% of the vote.[36] In 2006, he was reelected to a fourth term unopposed.[37]
Rubio served in the Florida House of Representatives for nearly nine years. Since the Florida legislative session officially lasted only 60 days, he spent about half of each year in Miami, where he practiced law. He worked at a law firm that specialized in land use and zoning until 2014, when he took a position withBroad and Cassel, a Miami law and lobbying firm. (State law precluded him from engaging in lobbying or introducing legislation on behalf of the firm's clients).[29][38]
Tenure
Rubio's official portrait as a Florida State Representative
When Rubio took his seat in the legislature inTallahassee in January 2000, voters in Florida had recently approved a constitutional amendment onterm limits. This created openings for new legislative leaders due to many senior incumbents having to retire. According to an article inNational Journal, Rubio also gained an extra advantage in that regard, because he was sworn in early due to the special election, and he would take advantage of these opportunities to join the GOP leadership.[29]
Majority whip and majority leader
Later in 2000, themajority leader of the House,Mike Fasano, promoted Rubio to be one of two majoritywhips.[29]National Journal described that position as typically requiring much arm-twisting, but said Rubio took a different approach that relied more on persuading legislators and less on coercing them.[29]
Fasano resigned in September 2001 as majority leader of the House due to disagreements with the House speaker, and the speaker passed over Rubio to appoint a more experienced replacement for Fasano. Rubio volunteered to work onredistricting, which he accomplished by dividing the state into five regions, then working individually with the lawmakers involved, and this work helped to cement his relationships with GOP leaders.[29]
In December 2002, Rubio was appointed House majority leader by SpeakerJohnnie Byrd.[39][40] He persuaded Speaker Byrd to restructure the job of majority leader, so that legislative wrangling would be left to the whip's office, and Rubio would become the main spokesperson for the House GOP.[29]
According toNational Journal, during this period Rubio did not entirely adhere to doctrinaire conservative principles, and some colleagues described him as acentrist "who sought out Democrats and groups that don't typically align with the GOP".[29] He co-sponsored legislation that would have let farmworkers sue growers in state court if they were shortchanged on pay, and co-sponsored a bill for giving in-state tuition rates to the children ofundocumented immigrants.[29] In the wake of theSeptember 11 attacks, he voiced suspicion about expanding police detention powers and helped defeat a GOP bill that would have required colleges to increase reporting to the state about foreign students.[29]
As a state representative, Rubio requested legislativeearmarks (called "Community Budget Issue Requests" in Florida), totaling about $145million for 2001 and 2002, but none thereafter.[41][42] Additionally, an office in the executive branch compiled a longer list of spending requests by legislators, including Rubio,[43] as did the non-profit group Florida TaxWatch.[44] Many of those listed items were for health and social programs that Rubio has described as "the kind of thing that legislators would get attacked on if we didn't fund them".[44] A 2010 report by theTampa Bay Times andMiami Herald said that some of Rubio's spending requests dovetailed with his personal interests.[43] For example, Rubio requested a $20-million appropriation forJackson Memorial Hospital to subsidize care for the poor and uninsured,[44] and Rubio later did work for that hospital as a consultant.[43] A spokesman for Rubio has said that the items in question helped the whole county, that Rubio did not lobby to get them approved, that the hospital money was necessary and non-controversial, and that Rubio is "a limited-government conservative... not a no-government conservative".[43]
House speaker
Then Speaker-Designate Rubio challengingFlorida House colleagues to help write100 Innovative Ideas For Florida's Future in September 2005Rubio as chairman of theFlorida House Select Committee on Private Property Rights in October 2005Rubio with Democratic leaderDan Gelber in 2007Florida House Speaker Rubio and Senate PresidentKen Pruitt embrace after the Florida House's unanimous approval of theFlorida Senate'sresolution to formally express deep regret forslavery in March 2008
When he was chosen as future speaker in 2005, Rubio delivered a speech to the Florida House in which he asked members to look in their desks, where they each found a hardcover book titled100 Innovative Ideas For Florida's Future; but the book was blank because it had not yet been written, and Rubio told his colleagues that they would fill in the pages together with the help of ordinary Floridians.[29] In 2006, after traveling around the state and talking with citizens, and compiling their ideas, Rubio published the book.[47][48] TheNational Journal called this book "the centerpiece of Rubio's early speakership".[29] About 24 of the "ideas" became law, while another 10 were partially enacted.[48] Among the items from his 2006 book that became law were multiple-year car registrations, a requirement that high schools provide more vocational courses, and an expanded voucher-like school-choice program. Rubio's defenders, and some critics, point out thatnationwide economic difficulties overlapped with much of Rubio's speakership, and so funding new legislative proposals became difficult.[29]
As Rubio took office as Speaker,Jeb Bush was completing his term as governor, and Bush left office in January 2007. Rubio hired 18 Bush aides, leading Capitol insiders to say the speaker's suite was "the governor's office in exile". An article inNational Journal described Rubio's style as being very different from Bush's; where Bush was a very assertive manager of affairs in Tallahassee, Rubio's style was to delegate certain powers, relinquish others, and invite political rivals into his inner circle.[29] As the incoming speaker, he decided to open a private dining room for legislators, which he said would give members more privacy, free from being pursued by lobbyists, though the expense led to a public relations problem.[29]
In 2006, Florida enacted into law limitations upon the authority of the state government to take private property, in response to the 2005 Supreme Court decision inKelo v. City of New London which took a broad view of governmental power to take private property undereminent domain. This state legislation had been proposed by a special committee chaired by Rubio prior to his speakership.[49]
Jeb Bush was succeeded byCharlie Crist, a moderate Republican who took office in January 2007. Rubio and Crist clashed frequently. Their sharpest clash involved the governor's initiative to expand casinogambling in Florida. Rubio sued Crist for bypassing the Florida Legislature in order to make a deal with theSeminole Tribe. TheFlorida Supreme Court sided with Rubio and blocked the deal.[50][51]
Rubio also was a critic of Crist's strategy to fightclimate change through an executive order creating new automobile and utilityemissions standards. Rubio accused Crist of imposing "European-style big government mandates", and the legislature under Rubio's leadership weakened the impact of Crist's climate change initiative.[29][51] Rubio said that Crist's approach would harm consumers by driving up utility bills without having much effect upon the environment, and that a better approach would be to promotebiofuel (e.g.ethanol),solar panels, andenergy efficiency.[52][53][54]
Rubio introduced a plan to reducestate property taxes to 2001 levels (and potentially eliminate them altogether), while increasingsales taxes by 1% to 2.5% to fund schools. The proposal would have reduced property taxes in the state by $40–50billion. His proposal passed the House, but was opposed by Governor Crist and Florida Senate Republicans, who said that the increase in sales tax would disproportionately affect the poor. So, Rubio agreed to smaller changes, and Crist's proposal to double the state'sproperty tax exemption from $25,000 to $50,000 (for a tax reduction estimated by Crist to be $33billion) ultimately passed.[29][49][55] Legislators called it the largest tax cut in Florida's history up until then.[49][56] At the time, Republican anti-tax activistGrover Norquist described Rubio as "the most pro-taxpayer legislative leader in the country".[55]
As Speaker, Rubio "aggressively tried to push Florida to thepolitical right", according toNBC News, and frequently clashed with theFlorida Senate, which was run by moremoderate Republicans, and with then-Governor Charlie Crist, a centrist Republican at the time.[51] Although a conservative, "behind the scenes many Democrats considered Rubio someone with whom they could work", according to biographer Manuel Roig-Franzia.[57]Dan Gelber of Miami, the House Democratic leader at the time of Rubio's speakership, considered him "a true conservative" but not "a reflexive partisan", saying: "He didn't have an objection to working with the other side simply because they were the other side. To put it bluntly, he wasn't a jerk."[58] Gelber considered Rubio "a severe conservative, really far to the right, but probably the most talented spokesman the severe right could ever hope for."[51]
While speaker of the Florida House, Rubio shared a residence in Tallahassee with another Florida state representative,David Rivera, which the two co-owned. The house later went into foreclosure in 2010 after several missed mortgage payments.[59] At that point, Rubio assumed responsibility for the payments, and the house was eventually sold.[60][61]
In 2007, Florida state senatorTony Hill (D-Jacksonville), chairman of the state legislature's Black Caucus, requested that the legislature apologize forslavery, and Rubio said the idea merited discussion.[62] The following year, a supportive Rubio said such apologies can be important albeit symbolic; he pointed out that even in 2008 young African-American males "believe that the American dream is not available to them".[63][64] He helped set up a council on issues facing black men and boys, persuaded colleagues to replicate theHarlem Children's Zone in the Miami neighborhood ofLiberty City, and supported efforts to promote literacy and mentoring for black children and others.[65][66][67][68]
In 2010, during Rubio's Senate campaign, and again in 2015 during his presidential campaign, issues were raised by the media and his political opponents about some items charged by Rubio to hisRepublican Party of Florida American Express card during his time as House speaker.[69][70][71] Rubio charged about $110,000 during those two years, of which $16,000 was personal expenses unrelated to party business, such as groceries and plane tickets.[72] Rubio said that he personally paid American Express more than $16,000 for these personal expenses.[73][74] In 2012, the Florida Commission on Ethics cleared Rubio of wrongdoing in his use of the party-issued credit card, although the commission inspector said that Rubio exhibited a "level of negligence" in not using his personal MasterCard.[75][76] In November 2015, Rubio released his party credit card statements for January 2005 through October 2006, which showed eight personal charges totaling $7,243.74, all of which he had personally reimbursed, in most instances by the next billing period.[71][72][77] When releasing the charge records, Rubio spokesman Todd Harris said, "These statements are more than 10 years old. And the only people who ask about them today are the liberal media and our political opponents. We are releasing them now because Marco has nothing to hide."[71]
Academic career (2008–2011)
After leaving the Florida Legislature in 2008, Rubio began teaching under a fellowship appointment atFlorida International University (FIU) as anadjunct professor.[78] In 2011, after entering the U.S. Senate, he rejoined the FIU faculty.[78][79] He has taught undergraduate courses onFlorida politics, political parties, and legislative politics.[80][81]
Rubio's appointment as an FIU professor was initially criticized.[82][78][83] The university obtained considerable state funding when Rubio was speaker of the Florida House, and many other university jobs were being eliminated due to funding issues at the time FIU appointed him to the faculty.[78][80][83] When Rubio accepted the fellowship appointment as an adjunct professor at FIU, he agreed to raise most of the funding for his position from private sources.[83][84]
On May 5, 2009, Rubio announced his candidacy for theU.S. Senate seat being vacated byMel Martínez, who had decided not to seek reelection and resigned before completing his term. Before launching his campaign, Rubio met with fundraisers and supporters throughout the state.[85] Initially trailing by double digits in the primary against the incumbent governor of his own party, Charlie Crist, Rubio eventually surpassed Crist in polling for the Republican nomination.[86][87] In his campaign, Rubio received the support of members of theTea Party, many of whom were dissatisfied with Crist's policies as governor.[88] On April 28, 2010, Crist said he would run without a party affiliation, effectively ceding the Republican nomination to Rubio.[89][90][91] Several of Crist's top fundraisers, as well as Republican leadership, refused to support Crist after Rubio won the Republican nomination.[92][93][94]
In April 2015, Rubio decided torun for president instead of seeking reelection to the Senate. After suspending his presidential campaign on March 15, 2016, Rubio "seemed to open the door to running for reelection" on June 13, 2016, citing the previous day'sOrlando nightclub shooting and how "it really gives you pause, to think a little bit about your service to your country and where you can be most useful to your country."[96] Rubio officially started his campaign nine days later, on June 22.[97] Rubio won the Republican primary on August 30, 2016, defeatingCarlos Beruff.[98] He faced Democratic nomineePatrick Murphy in the general election, defeating him with almost 52% of the vote.[99]
In November 2020, Rubio announced he would run for a third Senate term in the2022 election.[100] He faced Democratic challengerVal Demings, the U.S. representative forFlorida's 10th congressional district and a former police officer. Rubio criticized Demings as an "ineffective member of Congress and a puppet ofNancy Pelosi; she's voted with Nancy Pelosi 100% of the time".[101] Demings criticized Rubio's attendance record in the Senate, and in a campaign ad said Rubio had "one of the worst attendance records in the Senate. When Florida needs you, you just don't show up."[102] Demings also claimed that Rubio supported tax hikes, but this was proven false.[103] Rubio won the November 8 general election with 57% of the vote to Demings's 41%.[104]
Tenure as senator
Rubio's portrait during the112th CongressRubio with Israeli presidentShimon Peres during a trip toIsrael in February 2013Rubio touring the U.S.-Mexican border in November 2011 withBorder Patrol officials
During Rubio's first four years in theU.S. Senate,Republicans were in the minority. After the2014 midterm elections, the Republicans obtained majority control of the Senate, giving Rubio and the Republicans vast federal influence during the final two years ofBarack Obama's presidency, as well as during all four years ofDonald Trump's presidency. After the 2020 elections, the Democrats regained majority control of the Senate, and Rubio has reassumed minority status within the Senate.
During his first year in office, Rubio became an influential defender of theUnited States embargo against Cuba and induced the State Department to withdraw an ambassadorial nomination ofJonathan D. Farrar, who was the Chief of Mission of theUnited States Interests Section in Havana from 2008 to 2011. Rubio believed that Farrar was not assertive enough toward the Castro regime.[112] Also in 2011, Rubio was invited to visit theReagan Library, during which he gave a well-publicized speech praising its namesake, and also rescuedNancy Reagan from falling.[113][114]
In March 2011, Rubio supported U.S. participation in themilitary campaign in Libya to oust Libyan leaderMuammar Gaddafi.[115] He urged that Senate leaders bring "a bi-partisan resolution to the Senate floor authorizing the president's decision to participate in allied military action in Libya".[116] The administration decided that no congressional authorization was needed under theWar Powers Resolution; SenatorJoe Lieberman (I-CT) joined Rubio in writing an opinion piece forThe Wall Street Journal in June 2011 again urging passage of such authorization.[117] In October 2011, Rubio joined several other senators in pushing for continued engagement to "help Libya lay the foundation for sustainable security".[118] Soon after Gadhafi was ousted, Rubio warned there was a serious threat posed by the spread of militias and weapons, and called for more U.S. involvement to counter that threat.[115]
The following month, Rubio and SenatorChris Coons, Democrat ofDelaware, co-sponsored the American Growth, Recovery, Empowerment and Entrepreneurship Act (AGREE Act), which would have extended manytax credits and exemptions for businesses investing inresearch and development, equipment, and other capital; provided a tax credit for veterans who start a business franchise; allowed an increase in immigration for certain types of work visas; and strengthened copyright protections.[121][122][123][124]
Rubio voted against the 2012 "fiscal cliff" resolutions. Although he received some criticism for this position, he responded: "Thousands of small businesses, not just the wealthy, will now be forced to decide how they'll pay this new tax, and, chances are, they'll do it by firing employees, cutting back their hours and benefits, or postponing the new hires they were looking to make. And to make matters worse, it does nothing to bring our dangerous debt under control."[125]
In 2013, Rubio was part of the bipartisan "Gang of Eight" senators that craftedcomprehensive immigration reform legislation.[126] Rubio proposed a plan providing a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants living in the U.S., involving payment of fines andback taxes, background checks, and a probationary period; that pathway was to be implemented only after strengtheningborder security.[127][128] The bill passed the Senate 68 to 32 with his support, but Rubio then signaled that the bill should not be taken up by the House because other priorities, like repealing Obamacare, were a higher priority for him; the House never did take up the bill. Rubio has since explained that he still supports reform, but a different approach instead of a single comprehensive bill.[129]
Rubio was chosen to deliver theRepublican response to President Obama's2013 State of the Union Address.[130] It marked the first time the response was delivered in English and Spanish.[131] Rubio's attempt to draw a strong line against the looming defense sequestration was undercut by fellow Republican senatorRand Paul's additional response to Obama's speech that called for the sequester to be carried out.[132]
In April 2013, Rubio voted against an expansion ofbackground checks for gun purchases, contending that such increased regulatory measures would do little to help capture criminals.[133][134] Rubio voted against publishing theSenate Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture. In 2016, Rubio said the U.S. should "find out everything they know" from captured terrorists and should not telegraph "the enemy what interrogation techniques we will or won't use."[135]
114th Congress (2015–2017)
Rubio in November 2015
Republicans took control of the U.S. Senate as a result of the elections in November 2014.[136] As this new period of Republican control began, Rubio pushed for the elimination of the "risk corridors" used by the federal government to compensate insurers for their losses as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). The risk corridors were intended to be funded by profitable insurers participating in the PPACA, but since insurer losses have significantly exceeded their profits in the program, the risk corridors have been depleted. His efforts contributed to the inclusion of a provision in the 2014 federal budget that prevented other funding sources from being tapped to replenish the risk corridors.[137]
In March 2015, Rubio and SenatorMike Lee, Republican of Utah, proposed a tax plan that according toThe Wall Street Journal, combined thinking from "old-fashioned, Reagan-era supply-siders" and a "breed of largely younger conservative reform thinkers" concerned with the tax burden on the middle class. The plan would lower the top corporate income tax rate from 38% to 25%, eliminate taxes on capital gains, dividends, and inherited estates, and create a new child tax credit worth up to $2,500 per child. The plan would set the top individual income tax rate at 35%. It also included a proposal to replace the means-tested welfare system, including food stamps and the Earned Income Tax Credit, with a new "consolidated system of benefits".[138]
According to analysis byVocativ as reported by Fox News, Rubio missed 8.3% of total votes from January 2011 to February 2015.[139] From October 27, 2014, to October 26, 2015, Rubio voted in 74% of Senate votes, according to an analysis by GovTrack.us, which tracks congressional voting records.[140][141] In 2015, Rubio was absent for about 35% of Senate votes.[140][142] In historical context Rubio's attendance record for Senate votes is not exceptional among senators seeking a presidential nomination;John McCain missed a much higher percentage of votes in 2007. But it was the worst of the three senators who campaigned for the presidency in 2015.[143]
During his Senate tenure, Rubio has co-sponsored bills on issues ranging from humanitarian crises inHaiti to theRusso-Ukrainian war,[144] and was a frequent and prominent critic of Obama's efforts in national security.[144]
On May 17, 2016, Rubio broke from the Republican majority in his support of Obama's request for $2 billion in emergency spending on theZika virus at a time when Florida accounted for roughly 20% of the recorded cases of Zika in the U.S., acknowledging that it was the president's request but adding, "it's really the scientists' request, the doctors' request, the public health sector's request for how to address this issue."[145] On August 6, Rubio said he did not believe in terminating Zika-infected pregnancies.[146]
On December 13, after President-elect Trump nominatedRex Tillerson as hissecretary of state in the incoming administration, Rubio expressed concern about the selection.[147] On January 11, Rubio questioned Tillerson during a Senate committee hearing on his confirmation, saying afterward he would "do what's right".[148] On January 23, Rubio said that he would vote to confirm Tillerson, saying that a delay in the appointment would be counter to national interests.[149]
On April 5, 2017, Rubio saidBashar al-Assad felt he could act with "impunity" in knowing the United States was not prioritizing removing him from office.[150] The next day, Rubio praised Trump'sordered strike: "By acting decisively against the very facility from which Assad launched his murderous chemical weapons attack, President Trump has made it clear to Assad and those who empower him that the days of committing war crimes with impunity are over."[151]
In September 2017, Rubio defended Trump's decision to rescind theDeferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. He called the program, which provided temporary stay for some undocumented immigrants brought into the U.S. as minors, "unconstitutional".[152]
While ballots were being counted in a close Florida Senate race between Democratic incumbentBill Nelson and Republican challengerRick Scott, Rubio claimed without evidence that Democrats were conspiring with election officials to illicitly install Nelson.[154][155][156] He claimed without evidence that "Democrat lawyers" were descending on Florida and that "they have been very clear they aren't here to make sure every vote is counted."[154] He claimed that Broward County officials were engaged in "ongoing" legal violations, without specifying what those were.[154] Election monitors found no evidence of voter fraud in Broward County, and the Florida State Department found no evidence of criminal activity.[156]
116th Congress (2019–2021)
Rubio meeting withVenezuelan presidential candidate and opposition leaderJuan Guaidó in February 2020
In 2019, Rubio defended Trump's decision to host the46th G7 summit at theTrump National Doral Miami, a resort Trump owns. Rubio called the decision "great" and said it would be good for local businesses.[157][158]
In 2020, Rubio supported the nomination ofJudy Shelton to the Federal Reserve board of governors. Shelton had received bipartisan criticism over her support for thegold standard and other unorthodox monetary policy views.[159][160]
On July 13, 2020, the Chinese governmentsanctioned Rubio and three other U.S. politicians for "interfering in China's internal affairs" by condemning human rights abuses inXinjiang.[161] In response, Rubiotweeted: "Last month #China banned me. Today they sanctioned me. I don't want to be paranoid but I am starting to think they don't like me."[162] On August 10, 2020, the Chinese government sanctioned Rubio and 10 other Americans for "behaving badly on Hong Kong-related issues".[163]
After Biden defeated Trump in the2020 presidential election and Trump made false claims of election fraud, Rubio defended Trump's right to assert claims of fraud andchallenge the election results, saying any "irregularities" and "claims of broken election laws" could not be claimed false until the courts ruled on them. Rubio later shifted his rhetoric to saying that concerns from Republican voters over "potential irregularities" in the election demanded redress. By November 23, 2020, Rubio referred to Biden as president-elect.[164]
117th Congress (2021–2023)
Rubio described the2021 United States Capitol attack as unpatriotic and "3rd world-style anti-Americananarchy".[165] Of the rioters, Rubio said some of them were adherents "to a conspiracy theory and others got caught up in the moment. The result was a national embarrassment." After Congress was allowed to return to session, Rubio voted to certify the2021 United States Electoral College vote count.[166] In February 2021, Rubio voted to acquit Trump for his role in inciting the mob to storm the Capitol.[167] On May 28, 2021, Rubio voted against creating theJanuary 6 commission.[168]
In January 2021, Rubio sponsored theUyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act.[169] In May 2021, Rubio argued that "Wall Street must stop enabling Communist China" inThe American Prospect[170] and on his website.[171] "Americans from across the political spectrum should feel emboldened by the growing bipartisan awakening to the threat that theCCP poses to American workers, families, and communities", he wrote. "As we deploy legislative solutions to tackle this challenge, Democrats must not allow our corporate and financial sectors' leftward shift on social issues to blind them to the enormity of China as a geo-economic threat."[170]
Rubio denounced theRussian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and co-sponsored a bill that would target pro-Russian separatist groups whose conflict with the Ukrainian government was used byVladimir Putin to justify the invasion.[172]
Rubio said in April 2014 that he would not run for reelection to the Senate if he ran for president in 2016, as Florida law prohibits a candidate from appearing twice on a ballot, but at that time he did not rule out running for either office.[174] He later indicated that even if he would not win the Republican nomination for president, he would not run for reelection to the Senate.[175] Also in April 2014, the departure of Cesar Conda, Rubio's chief of staff since 2011, was seen as a sign of Rubio's plans to run forpresident in 2016. Conda departed to lead Rubio's Reclaim AmericaPAC as a senior adviser.[176][177] Groups supporting Rubio raised over $530,000 in the first three months of 2014, most of which was spent on consultants and data analytics, in what was seen as preparations for a presidential campaign.[178]
A poll from the WMUR/University, trackingNew Hampshire's Republican primary voters' sentiment, showed Rubio at the top alongsideKentucky senator Rand Paul later in 2013, but as of April 18, 2014, he had dropped to 10th place behind other Republican contenders. The poll, however, also suggested that Rubio was not disliked by the primary voters, which was thought to be positive for him if other candidates had chosen not to run.[179] Rubio placed second among potential 2016 Republican presidential candidates in an online poll of likely voters conducted by Zogby Analytics in January 2015.[180]
In January 2015, it was reported that Rubio had begun contacting top donors and appointing advisors for a potential 2016 run, includingGeorge Seay, who previously worked on such campaigns asRick Perry'sin 2012 andMitt Romney's in 2008, and Jim Rubright, who had previously worked for Jeb Bush, Mitt Romney, and John McCain.[181][182] Rubio also instructed his aides to "prepare for a presidential campaign" prior to a Team Marco 2016 fundraising meeting inSouth Beach.[183]
On April 13, 2015, Rubio launched his campaign for president in 2016.[184] Rubio was believed to be a viable candidate for the 2016 presidential race who could attract many parts of the GOP base, partly because of his youthfulness and oratorical skill.[185][186] Rubio had pitched his candidacy as an effort to restore theAmerican Dream for middle and working-class families, who might have found his background as a working-class Cuban-American appealing.[187]
Republican primaries
In the first Republican primary, the February1Iowa caucuses, Rubio finished third, behind candidatesTed Cruz andDonald Trump.[188] During a nationally televised debate among Republican candidates inNew Hampshire on February 6, 2016, Rubio was criticized by rivalChris Christie for speaking repetitiously, with Christie saying Rubio sounded "scripted". On February 9, when he placed fifth in theNew Hampshire primary results, Rubio took the blame and acknowledged a poor debate performance.[189] In the third Republican contest, theSouth Carolina primary on February 20, Rubio finished second, but did not gain any delegates as Trump won all ofSouth Carolina's congressional districts and thus delegates.[190][191]Jeb Bush left the race that day, leading to a surge in campaign donations and endorsements to Rubio. On February 23, Rubio finished second in theNevada caucuses, again losing to Trump.[192] Trump called Rubio's remarks at the February 25 debate "robotic" due to Rubio's repeated use of the same talking points; Rubio was later followed by hecklers who were dressed as robots.[189]
At another Republican debate on February 25, Rubio repeatedly criticized frontrunner candidate Donald Trump.[193] It was described byCNN as a "turning point in style" as Rubio had previously largely ignored Trump during his campaign, and this deviated from Rubio's signature "optimistic campaign message". The next day Rubio continued turning Trump's attacks against him,[194] even ridiculing Trump's physical appearance.[195] On March 1, called 'Super Tuesday' with eleven Republican contests on that day, Rubio's sole victory was inMinnesota, the first state he had won since voting began a month prior.[191] Rubio went on to win further contests in Puerto Rico on March6 and the District of Columbia on March 12, but lost eight other contests from March5 to 8.[191] Around that time, Rubio revealed he was not "entirely proud" of his personal attacks on Trump.[196]
On March 15, Rubio suspended his campaign after placing second in his own home state of Florida.[195] Hours earlier, Rubio had expressed expectations for a Florida win, and said he would continue to campaign (in Utah) "irrespective of" that night's results.[197] The result was that Rubio won 27.0% of the Florida vote, while Trump won 45.7% and all of Florida's delegates.[198] The conclusion of the six March 15 contests (out of which Rubio won none) left Rubio with 169 delegates on the race to reach 1237, but Ted Cruz already had 411 and Trump 673.[191][199] On March 17, Rubio ruled out runs for the vice-presidency, governorship of Florida and even reelection for his senate seat. He said only that he would be a "private citizen" by January 2017, leading to some media speculation of the termination of his political career.[200] (Rubio later reversed his decision and was reelected to the Senate.[97])
On April 12, during an interview withMark Levin, Rubio expressed his wishes that Republicans would nominate a conservative candidate, name-dropping Cruz.[201] This was interpreted as an endorsement of Cruz, though Rubio clarified the following day that he had only been answering a question.[202] Rubio would later explain his decision to not endorse Cruz being due to his belief that the endorsement would not significantly benefit him and a desire to let the election cycle play out.[203] On April 22, Rubio said he was not interested in being the vice presidential candidate to any of the remaining GOP contenders.[204] On May 16, Rubio posted several tweets in which he critiqued sources reporting that he despised the Senate and aWashington Post story that claimed he was unsure of his next move after his unsuccessful presidential bid, typing, "I have only said like 10000 times I will be a private citizen in January."[205]
On May 18, after Trump expressed a willingness to meet withKim Jong-un, Rubio said Kim was "not a stable person" and furthered that Trump was open to the meeting only due to inexperience with the North Korea leader.[206] On May 26, Rubio told reporters that he was backing Trump due to his view that the presumptive nominee was a better choice than Hillary Clinton for the presidency and that as president, Trump would sign a repeal of the Affordable Care Act and replace the lateAntonin Scalia with another conservative Supreme Court Justice.[207] He also confirmed that he would be attending the2016 Republican National Convention inCleveland, Ohio, where he intended to release his pledged delegates to support Trump.[208] On May 29, Rubio continued disavowing vice presidential speculation but indicated an interest in playing a role in Trump's campaign.[209] On June 6, Rubio rebuked Trump's comments onGonzalo P. Curiel, who Trump accused of being biased against him on the basis of his ethnicity, as "offensive" while speaking with reporters, advising that Trump should cease defending the remarks and defending the judge as "an American".[210] Rubio restarted his Senate reelection campaign on June 22.[97]
On July 6, Olivia Perez-Cubas, Rubio's Senate campaign spokeswoman, said he would not be attending the Republican National Convention due to planned campaigning on the days the convention was scheduled to take place.[211]
During the Republican primary campaign in which Rubio andDonald Trump were opponents, Rubio criticized Trump,[212] including, in February 2016, calling Trump a "con artist" and saying that Trump is "wholly unprepared to be president of the United States".[213] In June 2016, after Trump became the presumptive GOP nominee, Rubio reaffirmed his February 2016 comments that we must not hand "the nuclear codes of the United States to an erratic individual".[214] However, after Trump won the Republican Party's nomination, Rubio endorsed him on July 20, 2016.[215] Following the October 7, 2016,Donald TrumpAccess Hollywood controversy, Rubio wrote that "Donald's comments were vulgar, egregious & impossible to justify. No one should ever talk about any woman in those terms, even in private."[216] Rubio reaffirmed his support of Trump shortly thereafter.[217] Two weeks later, at the annualCalle Orange street festival in downtownOrlando, he was booed off a stage by a mostly Hispanic crowd over his support for Trump.[218]
Vice PresidentJD Vance swears in Marco Rubio on January 21, 2025.
In November 2024, it was reported that Trump had chosen Rubio asUnited States secretary of state in hissecond administration;[219] Trump confirmed this on November 13.[220] Unlike many of Trump's other cabinet nominations, Rubio's attracted little controversy. He was praised by both Republicans and Democrats.[221] Rubio appeared before theSenate Committee on Foreign Relations on January 15, 2025. During the hearing, he called China "the most potent and dangerous near-peer adversary this nation has ever faced" and said theChinese Communist Party had "lied, cheated, hacked, and stolen their way to global superpower status at our expense".[222][223]
Trump formally nominated Rubio, among others, on January 20, 2025, as one of his first acts as president. TheSenate Committee on Foreign Relations unanimously approved his nomination and the Senate confirmed him a few hours later by a vote of 99 to 0.[224][225]
Rubio is the first Hispanic to hold the office of secretary of state.[228] Rubio became the first Hispanic to act as National Security Advisor on May 1, 2025, after Trump announced his intention to replace national security advisorMike Waltz with Rubio. Rubio became the interim national security advisor, while continuing as secretary of state.[229][230] Rubio is the first person to be both secretary of state and national security advisor in fifty years, sinceHenry Kissinger in 1975.[227] Rubio is also the first Floridian to serve as secretary of state.
Indo-Pacific region
Rubio with Vietnamese PresidentLương Cường, September 24, 2025
On his first day as secretary, Rubio met with foreign ministers of theQuadrilateral Security Dialogue member countries to "strengthen economic opportunity and peace and security in theIndo-Pacific region" and counter the influence ofChina.[231]
Gender on passports
On January 23, 2025, as part of compliance withExecutive Order 14168, which ended gender self-identification on passports, Rubio instructed State Department staff to freeze any passport applications that requested "X" sex markers.[232] As part of the move, the department held some transgender applicants' documents while their applications were in limbo. The move created widespread confusion among both applicants and those who had already acquired passports with "X" sex markers.[233] TheWilliams Institute estimated that, out of the 171 million Americans who hold valid U.S. passports, 16,700 may be eligible for ones with "X" sex markers.[234][235]
In accordance with President Trump'sexecutive order, on January 24, 2025, Rubio enacted an unprecedented freeze on allU.S. foreign aid for 90 days, with some exceptions, effective January 28.[236][237][238] This shut down many ofUSAID's humanitarian, development, and security programs worldwide.[239] During his time in Congress, Rubio was an avid supporter of USAID.[240] During a February 6 press conference in the Dominican Republic, Rubio said, "If it's providing food or medicine or anything that is saving lives and is immediate and urgent, you're not included in the freeze." But on February 8, CNN reported that many waivers were not being acted upon because too many staff have been placed on leave and because payment systems had been taken over.[241]
In March,ProPublica reported that emails show that Rubio was alerted by longtime employees who estimated that one million children would go untreated for severe malnutrition, up to 166,000 people would die from malaria, and 200,000 children would be paralyzed by polio over the next decade if the USAID programs were cut.[242]
As DOGE phased USAID out, the Trump administration announced that lifesaving programs would be protected. But in late February and early March, there was a fair amount of chaos. USAID staff had no way to send payments, as access to finance systems had been severed. At a February 13 meeting, three political appointees shouted at a regular employee to draft a memo countering the "false narrative" in the news media that there had ever been a pause. On February 24, employees were told not to bother requesting waivers for infectious diseases such as Ebola because they would not be approved. On February 26, about 10,000 programs were abruptly ended. Meanwhile, payment of $2 billion for work already completed was slowed.[242]
Rubio with Japanese Foreign MinisterTakeshi Iwaya and South Korean Foreign MinisterCho Hyun, September 22, 2025
At times, the Trump administration seemed to be "trying to reverse-engineer its most sweeping actions" in order to restore lifesaving programs. But when appealed to by an employee, political appointee Joel Borkert said some were canceled in error, and wrote in an email, "we have the ability to rescind."[242]
Downsizing to 17%
On March 10, Rubio posted to X that the administration would be keeping only 17% of USAID programs.[243][244]
July 2025 clawbacks
In June 2025, the White House requested that Congress pass a package of rescissions, or "clawbacks", of approximately $8 billion in foreign aid and $1 billion for theCorporation for Public Broadcasting. The House of Representatives passed the cuts as requested. The Senate excluded the cuts toPEPFAR, the program started under PresidentGeorge W. Bush to help lower-income countries get access toHIV medicines. The Senate passed two preliminary votes, 51-50, withVice-President JD Vance casting the tie-breaking votes. A rescission is one of the exceptions to the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster rule.[245]
On July 17, the Senate voted 51-48 in favor of the cuts. The next day, the House of Representatives voted 216-213 for the Senate version, meaning PEPFAR was protected.[246]
International Criminal Court sanctions
In June 2025, Rubio announced sanctions on fourInternational Criminal Court judges, for allegedly targeting the United States and Israel.[247] In 2020, ICC opened aninvestigation into alleged war crimes in Afghanistan. In 2021, ICC deprioritized the investigation into U.S. troops, focusing instead on crimes committed by theTaliban andISIS-K.[248] In 2024, ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu and Minister of DefenceYoav Gallant.
First trip abroad
Rubio with Panamanian PresidentJosé Raúl Mulino in Panama City, Panama, February 2, 2025
In February 2025, Rubio met with El Salvador presidentNayib 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.[252][253] Rubio praised the agreement as a way of rehousing deportees and American prisoners in the SalvadoranTerrorism Confinement Center.[254][255]
Rubio briefing Trump that Israel and Hamas have signed off on theSeptember 2025 peace deal; October 8, 2025
In February 2025, Rubio supported Trump's proposal that the U.S. take over theGaza 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.[259] In March 2025, Rubio bypassed Congress by issuing an emergency declaration to send Israel a $4 billion shipment of arms.[260]
On May 16, 2025, while inAbu Dhabi,UAE, Trump said: "We're looking at Gaza. And we're going to get that taken care of. A lot of people are starving." Israel claims thatHamas systemically raids food aid in order to support its operations, and Israel has put forward a plan of food distributed through a system of hubs run by private contractors and protected by Israeli soldiers. The U.S.-backedGaza Humanitarian Foundation has been set up to carry out this plan and announced it would be ready to begin operations by the end of May. This plan has been criticized as unworkable and potentially unlawful because it could lead to mass forced relocations. On May 15, 2025, Rubio acknowledged the criticism and said the U.S. government is "open to an alternative if someone has a better one".[261]
In October 2025, theKnesset passed a bill that would applyIsraeli sovereignty to all West Bank settlements. The bill was condemned by Rubio as "counterproductive" to Trump'sGaza peace plan.[262]
Ukraine
Rubio and Vance with Ukrainian presidentVolodymyr Zelenskyy in Rome, Italy on May 18, 2025
On February16, 2025, Rubio rejected concerns that Ukraine and Europe would be excluded from any futurepeace negotiations in the Russian invasion of Ukraine,[263] saying, "One phone call does not solve a war as complex as this one, but I can tell you that Donald Trump is the only leader in the world that could potentially begin that process."[264] On February 18, American and Russian delegations headed by Rubio and Russian Foreign MinisterSergey Lavrovmet inRiyadh,Saudi Arabia, to develop a framework for further peace negotiations on the Ukraine war. Rubio was accompanied by U.S. national security advisorMike Waltz and Special EnvoySteve Witkoff.[265]
On March7, 2025,The New York Times reported that Rubio had clashed withElon Musk during a White House cabinet meeting. Musk criticized him for not firing anyone in the State Department, and Rubio was angered by Musk's dismantling of USAID while he was the agency's administrator.[268]
On March9, 2025, Rubio condemned themassacres of Syrian minorities committed by pro-government fighters duringclashes in western Syria. He said "the United States stands with Syria's religious and ethnic minorities, including itsChristian,Druze,Alawite, andKurdish communities" and that the "perpetrators of these massacres against Syria's minority communities" should be held accountable.[269]
South Africa
On March14, Rubio expelled South African U.S. ambassadorEbrahim Rasool and called him a "race-baiting politician who hates America".[270]
In late April, Rubio announced plans to trim State Department costs and jobs by 15% to 17%. The same day, a senior State Department official said the job cuts would be 22%. Rubio said: "Over the past 15 years, the department's footprint has had unprecedented growth and costs have soared. But far from seeing a return on investment, taxpayers have seen less effective and efficient diplomacy. The sprawling bureaucracy created a system more beholden to radical political ideology than advancing America's core national interests."[272] The proposal would fire 80% of staff in theBureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor.[273]
China
In May 2025, Rubio announced the U.S. government would "aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students, including those with connections to theChinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields". He also announced the U.S. would increase scrutiny of all future visa applications from China and Hong Kong.[274]
Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda
Signing ceremony for thepeace agreement, Washington, D.C., June 27, 2025
This agreement potentially ends a long-running conflict in which six million people have died. Rubio said: "This is an important moment after 30 years of war. President Trump is a president of peace. He really does want peace. He prioritizes it above all else."[276] Former DRC prime ministerJoseph Kabila expressed skepticism of the peace deal, saying it was "nothing more than a trade agreement".[277]
Mexico
In early September 2025, Rubio met with Mexican PresidentClaudia Sheinbaum and Foreign Affairs Secretary Ramón de la Fuente during his third visit to Latin America. The U.S. and Mexico agreed to continue close cooperation regarding the smuggling of drugs from Mexico into the U.S. and the smuggling of guns from the U.S. into Mexico. Rubio said, "It's the closest cooperation we've ever had, maybe between any country, but definitely between the U.S. and Mexico."[278]
As of early 2015, Rubio had a rating of 98.67 by theAmerican Conservative Union, based on his lifetime voting record in the Senate. According to theNational Journal, in 2013 Rubio was the 17th most conservative senator.[279] TheClub for Growth gave Rubio ratings of 93 percent and 91 percent based on his voting record in 2014 and 2013 respectively, and he has a lifetime rating from the organization above 90 percent.[280][281][282]
Rubio initially won his U.S. Senate seat with strongTea Party backing, but his 2013 support for comprehensive immigration reform legislation led to a decline in their support for him.[283][284] Rubio's stance on military, foreign policy, and national security issues—such as his support for arming theSyrian rebels and for the NSA—alienated some libertarian Tea Party activists.[284][285]
Rubio supports balancing thefederal budget, while prioritizingdefense spending. During his first term as senator, Rubio rejected thescientific consensus on climate change, argued that human activity did not play a major role, and claimed that proposals to address climate change would be ineffective and economically harmful.[286][287][288] He reversed this position by 2018, saying that humans contribute to an increase in greenhouse gases and sea levels are rising at a measurable rate. In 2020, he joined the bipartisanClimate Solutions Caucus.[289][290][291] Rubio opposes the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and has voted to repeal it.[292] He opposesnet neutrality, a policy that requiresInternet service providers to treat data on the Internet the same regardless of its source or content. Early in his Senate tenure, Rubio was involved inbipartisan negotiations to provide a pathway to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants while implementing various measures to strengthen the U.S. border; the bill passed the Senate but was blocked by immigration hardliners in the House.[293] Over time, Rubio distanced himself from his previous efforts to reach a compromise on immigration,[294] and developed more hardline views on immigration, rejecting bipartisan immigration reform efforts in 2018.[295]
Rubio is an outspoken opponent of abortion.[296] He has said that he would ban it even in cases of rape and incest, but with exceptions if the mother's life is in danger.[296][297][298]
Rubio has expressed caution about efforts to reduce penalties for drug crimes, saying that "too often" the conversation aboutcriminal justice reform "starts and ends with drug policy".[299] He has said that he would be open to legalizing non-psychoactive forms ofcannabis for medical use, but otherwise opposes its legalization forrecreational andmedical purposes.[300][301] Rubio has said that if elected president he would enforce federal law in states that have legalized cannabis.[301][302]
Rubio with former secretary of stateHenry Kissinger in November 2011
Rubio with Chinese Foreign MinisterWang Yi, July 2025
Rubio is very hawkish in regard toChina and theChinese Communist Party (CCP),[312] and has been called one of the U.S. Congress's most hawkish members on China.[313] Rubio believes that without a major effort to defeat China, the world is headed to "a new dark age of exploitation, conquest, and totalitarianism". He believes the U.S. should supportdemocracy,freedom, andautonomy forHong Kong.[314][315][316][317] On August 28, 2018, Rubio and 16 other members of Congress urged the U.S. to impose sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Act against Chinese officials responsible forhuman rights abuses against theUyghurMuslim minority inXinjiang.[318] China sanctioned him in 2020 and banned him from traveling to the country for his support for Hong Kong's democracy movement.[312] Rubio also strongly supports Taiwan and its independence.[319] He condemned holding the2022 Winter Olympics in China due to its "evil, genocidal regime", saying that he would "work to ensure that the Olympics are never hosted in the People's Republic of China again".[320] In 2022, he introduced the Chinese Communist Party Visa Ban Act, which would effectively prohibit any member of the CCP from visiting the United States. In March 2023, he voiced support for revoking China'spermanent normal trade relations status.[321]
At a February 2018CNN town hall event in the wake of theStoneman Douglas High School shooting, Rubio defended his record of accepting contributions from theNational Rifle Association (NRA), saying, "The influence of these groups comes not from money. The influence comes from the millions of people that agree with the agenda, the millions of Americans that support the NRA."[324]
In March 2018, Rubio defended the decision of the Trump administration to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.[325] Experts noted that the inclusion of such a question would likely result in severe undercounting of the population and faulty data, as undocumented immigrants would be less likely to respond to the census.[325] Fellow Republican members of Congress from Florida,Ileana Ros-Lehtinen andMario Diaz-Balart, criticized the Trump administration's decision on the basis that it could lead to a faulty census and disadvantage Florida in terms of congressional apportionment and fund apportionment.[325]
In July 2018, Rubio offered an amendment to a major congressional spending bill to potentially force companies that purchase real estate in cash to disclose their owners as "an attempt to root out criminals who use illicit funds and anonymous shell companies to buy homes".[326]
Rubio with Brazilian presidentJair Bolsonaro in March 2020
Rubio opposed theAffordable Care Act ("Obamacare").[327] In April 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court voted 8–1 to defeat his attempt to stop Obamacare.[328][329]
In March 2016, Rubio opposed President Obama's nomination ofMerrick Garland to theSupreme Court, saying, "I don't think we should be moving forward with a nominee in the last year of this president's term. I would say that even if it was a Republican president."[330] In September 2020, Rubio applauded Trump's nomination ofAmy Coney Barrett to the court after JusticeRuth Bader Ginsburg's death, voting to confirm her on October 26, 86 days before the expiration of Trump's presidential term.[331][332]
Rubio has a mixed relationship with Donald Trump.[333] During the Republican primaries in the 2016 presidential election, they harshly criticized each other. But during Trump's presidency, Rubio "[supported] just about everything Trump said and did", according to theSun-Sentinel.[333]
Rubio is a staunch supporter ofIsrael. He is a co-sponsor of a Senate resolution expressing objection to theUN Security Council Resolution 2334, which condemnedIsraeli settlement building in the occupiedPalestinian territories as a violation of international law.[334] Rubio condemned theOctober 7 attacks and expressed his support for Israel and its right to self-defense.[335] He called for the complete eradication ofHamas in Gaza.[336] When asked if there was a way to stop Hamas without causing massivecivilian casualties in Gaza,[337] Rubio said Israel cannot coexist "with these savages…. They have to be eradicated."[338] In 2023, he said Hamas was "100 percent to blame" for Palestinian casualties in Gaza.[339]
In February 2022, Rubio condemned Russia's invasion ofUkraine.[340][341] In November 2024, he calledUkrainians "incredibly brave and strong", but said the war in Ukraine had reached a "stalemate" and "needs to be brought to a conclusion" to avoid furthercasualties.[342]
Personal life
The Rubios–Daniella, Anthony, Amanda, Dominick and Jeanette (front row, from left) are watching Marco delivers remarks on his first day inState Department.
Decades of Decadence: How Our Spoiled Elites Blew America's Inheritance of Liberty, Security, and Prosperity. New York: Broadside Books. 2023.ISBN978-0063296978.
^"Legislator says he got calls demanding he end sit-in Series: AROUND THE STATE: [SOUTH PINELLAS Edition]".St. Petersburg Times. January 26, 2000.ProQuest263423613.
^"Absentee ballot: Ted Cruz a no-show at most committee meetings, floor votes". Fox News Channel. April 23, 2015.Archived from the original on April 24, 2015. RetrievedApril 23, 2015.In February, an analysis carried out by Vocativ in partnership with GovTrack.us, showed that Rubio beats Cruz as the senator most absent from chambers, having missed 99, or 8.3 percent, of 1,198 total votes since taking office in January 2011 to February of this year.
^Kopan, Tal (February 26, 2016)."Marco Rubio attacks Donald Trump wet pants".CNN.Archived from the original on March 16, 2016. RetrievedMarch 16, 2016.The Florida senator spent the first roughly 10 minutes of his rally... turning Trump's attacks back on the reality TV star... He also spun many of Trump's attacks against him back in Trump's direction...
^"Senate advances Trump's request to cancel billions in foreign aid, NPR and PBS funding".CBS. July 15, 2025.Archived from the original on July 18, 2025. RetrievedJuly 19, 2025.The rescissions request would cut $8.3 billion for the United States Agency for International Development, or USAID, along with other international assistance programs — from peacekeeping efforts to refugee assistance and climate projects.
^Washington Newsroom (June 30, 2015). Gregorio, David; Lewis, Matthew (eds.)."Factbox: Republican 2016 presidential field swells to 14 with Christie".Reuters.Archived from the original on April 1, 2016. RetrievedJanuary 9, 2017. "He was swept into the Senate in the Tea Party wave of 2010 but has fought to strengthen ties with conservatives after he helped lead a failed push for comprehensive immigration reform in 2013."
^Przybyla, Heidi (June 22, 2015)."Budget Brawl Gives Ted Cruz, Rand Paul a Chance to Break Out".Bloomberg News.Archived from the original on April 5, 2016. RetrievedMarch 8, 2017. "The budget and spending fight highlights widening divisions in the Republican Party between conservatives like Florida's Marco Rubio, concerned about shoring up the military, and Tea Party-aligned Republicans, like Cruz and Paul, more committed to limiting the size of government."
^Caputo, Marc (May 15, 2014)."Marco Rubio explains his climate-change skepticism".Miami Herald.Archived from the original on November 30, 2014. RetrievedSeptember 18, 2014.'I've never denied that there is a climate change,' Rubio said. 'The question is: Is man-made activity causing the changes in the climate?' Rubio, however, won't answer that with a yes or no.
^Bennett, Brian (May 11, 2014)."Marco Rubio says human activity isn't causing climate change".Los Angeles Times.Archived from the original on September 4, 2019. RetrievedDecember 12, 2019.I do not believe that human activity is causing these dramatic changes to our climate the way these scientists are portraying it
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