Marco Rubio
Marco Antonio Rubio (born May 28, 1971) is an American politician and lawyer serving as the senior United States senator from Florida, a seat he has held since 2011. A member of the Republican Party, he served as Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives from 2006 to 2008. Rubio unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for President of the United States in 2016, but won presidential primaries in Minnesota, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
For the boxer, see Marco Antonio Rubio.
Marco Rubio
Tania Rozio
Luciano Suarez
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- Politician
- lawyer
- educator
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 Trump administration, he was described as a "virtual secretary of state for Latin America".[1] 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. Rubio endorsed Trump for president in 2024 days before the Iowa caucuses.
Professorship
After leaving the Florida Legislature in 2008, Rubio began teaching under a fellowship appointment at Florida International University (FIU) as an adjunct professor.[78] In 2011, after entering the U.S. Senate, he rejoined the FIU faculty.[78][79] Rubio teaches in the Department of Politics and International Relations, which is part of FIU's Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs.[80] He has taught undergraduate courses on Florida politics, political parties, and legislative politics.[81][82]
Rubio's appointment as an FIU professor was initially criticized.[83][78][84] 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][81][84] 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.[84][85]
Rubio has been awarded the following foreign honor: