Marco Antonio Rubio, born on May 28, 1971, is an American politician, attorney, and diplomat. He has served as the 72nd United States secretary of state since 2025 and is currently the acting national security advisor. Rubio, a Republican, represented Florida in the U.S. Senate from 2011 to 2025.
Rubio grew up in Miami and went to the University of Florida, then earned his law degree from the University of Miami. He served as a city commissioner for West Miami in the 1990s and was elected in 2000 to the Florida House of Representatives for the 111th district. He became the Republican majority leader and later Speaker of the Florida House, serving as Speaker for two years starting in November 2006. Rubio left the legislature in 2008 because of term limits and started teaching at Florida International University.
Rubio won a three-way race for the U.S. Senate in 2010. In April 2015, he decided to run for president instead of seeking another Senate term. He ended his presidential campaign on March 15, 2016, after losing the Florida Republican primary to Donald Trump. Rubio then ran for reelection to the Senate and won a second term. Although he had criticized Trump during the campaign, Rubio endorsed him before the 2016 general election and mostly supported his presidency.
Profile Summary
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Marco Rubio |
| Birth Name | Marco Antonio Rubio |
| Date of Birth | May 28, 1971 (age 55) |
| Place of Birth | Miami, Florida, U.S. |
| Political Party | Republican |
| Spouse | Jeanette Dousdebes (m. 1998) |
| Children | 4 |
| Education | University of Florida (BA); University of Miami (JD) |
Government Positions
| Office | Term | President / Administration | Preceded By | Succeeded By |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 72nd United States Secretary of State | January 21, 2025 – Present | Donald Trump | Antony Blinken | Incumbent |
| Deputy Secretary of State | — | Christopher Landau | — | — |
| Acting United States National Security Advisor | May 1, 2025 – Present | Donald Trump | Mike Waltz | Incumbent |
| Deputies (National Security Advisor) | — | Andy Baker; Robert Gabriel Jr.; Michael Needham | — | — |
Previous Political Offices
| Office | Term | Preceded By | Succeeded By |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States Senator from Florida | January 3, 2011 – January 20, 2025 | George LeMieux | Ashley Moody |
| 94th Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives | November 21, 2006 – November 18, 2008 | Allan Bense | Ray Sansom |
| Member, Florida House of Representatives (111th District) | January 25, 2000 – November 18, 2008 | Carlos L. Valdes | Erik Fresen |
| Member, West Miami City Commission | April 1998 – January 2000 | Tania Rozio | Luciano Suarez |
Age
Marco was born on May 28, 1971, and is now 55 years old.
Biography, Early life and Education
Marco Antonio Rubio was born in 1971 in Miami, Florida. He is the second son and third child of Mario Rubio Reina and Oriales (García) Rubio. His parents, who were Cuban with Spanish and Italian roots, immigrated to the United States in 1956 during Fulgencio Batista’s rule, about two and a half years before Fidel Castro took power. Rubio’s mother returned to Cuba at least four times after Castro’s takeover, including a month-long visit in 1961, and the family had planned to return before the situation changed in Cuba. Rubio’s parents were not U.S. citizens when he was born but became naturalized in 1975. Some of Rubio’s relatives came to the U.S. as refugees.
Rubio’s maternal grandfather, Pedro Victor Garcia, first came to the U.S. legally in 1956 but went back to Cuba in 1959 to look for work. In 1962, he fled communist Cuba and returned to the U.S. without a visa. He was detained as an undocumented immigrant and ordered to be deported, but immigration officials changed their decision the same day, so the deportation order was not carried out. Garcia was instead given the legal status of “parolee,” which let him stay in the U.S. He applied for permanent residency in 1966 after the Cuban Adjustment Act was passed, and his application was approved. Rubio was close to his grandfather as a child.
More…
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. His parents left Cuba in 1956, during the Batista regime. According to the Post, “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”. Rubio denied that he had embellished his family history, stating that his public statements about his family were based on “family lore”. Rubio asserted that his parents intended to return to Cuba in the 1960s.
He explained that in 1961, his mother took his two older siblings back to Cuba planning to live there for good, while his father stayed in Miami to finish up family business. However, as Cuba moved toward communism, the family changed their plans. Rubio said, “the essence of my family story is why they came to America in the first place and why they had to stay.”
Rubio has three siblings: an older brother, Mario; an older sister, Barbara, who is married to Orlando Cicilia; and a younger sister, Veronica, who was previously married to entertainer Carlos Ponce. From ages 8 to 11, Rubio and his family attended the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints while living in Las Vegas. During that time, his father worked as a bartender at Sam’s Town Hotel, and his mother worked as a housekeeper at the Imperial Palace Hotel and Casino. Rubio received his first communion as a Catholic in 1984, and the family moved back to Miami the following year.
Rubio was confirmed in the Catholic Church. Although he changed religious affiliations a few times, he is now Catholic. As a teenager, he worked for his brother-in-law Orlando Cicilia, taking care of Cicilia’s dogs and using the money to go to Miami Dolphins games. When Rubio was 16, Cicilia was arrested and convicted for trafficking millions of dollars worth of cocaine. The Rubio family says they did not know about his criminal activity.
Early career (1996–2000)
While in law school, Rubio interned for U.S. Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. He also worked on Senator Bob Dole’s 1996 presidential campaign. In April 1998, two years after graduating, Rubio was elected as a city commissioner for West Miami. He was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in early 2000.
Personal life
In 1998, Rubio married Jeanette Dousdebes, who also comes from a Hispanic family. Her parents immigrated from Colombia. She used to work as a bank teller and was a Miami Dolphins cheerleader. They were married at the Church of the Little Flower, a Catholic church. The couple has four children. Their oldest son, Anthony, plays running back for the Florida Gators football team. The Rubio family lives in West Miami, Florida. Rubio is bilingual and speaks Spanish as his first language.
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 The Hammocks, Florida (among those mentioned earlier).
During a speech at the 2026 Security Conference in Munich, Rubio said his heritage is Spanish and Italian, with roots in Seville and Casale Monferrato, Kingdom of Piedmont.
Rubio enjoys 1990s hip-hop music, especially artists like 2Pac, Public Enemy, and Eminem. He has even quoted hip-hop lyrics in some of his political speeches.
Rubio is color blind.
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)
Net Worth
He has an estimated net worth of over $1 million and lives in Miami with his wife, Jeanette Dousdebes Rubio, and their four children.
