Marco Rubio

Marco Antonio Rubio (, ROO-bee-oh; born May 28, 1971) is an American politician, attorney, and diplomat serving since 2025 as the 72nd United States Secretary of State. He is also the acting National Security Advisor. A member of the Republican Party, Rubio represented Florida in the United States Senate from 2011 to 2025. Rubio was born and raised in Miami. He attended the University of Florida and the University of Miami's law school. After serving as a City Commissioner for West Miami in the 1990s, he was elected in 2000 to represent the 111th district in the Florida House of Representatives. As the Republican majority leader, he was subsequently elected Speaker 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 at Florida International University. In a three-way race, Rubio was elected to the U . 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 his presidential campaign, Rubio endorsed him before the 2016 general election and was largely supportive of his presidency. Due to his influence on U . policy on Latin America during the first Trump administration, he was described as a "virtual secretary of state for Latin America". He was also considered to have been one of Congress's most hawkish members with regard to China and the Chinese Communist Party. The Chinese government sanctioned him twice in 2020 and he was banned from entering China until he became Secretary of State. 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 to be secretary of state in his second administration. Rubio was confirmed unanimously by the U . Senate and took office on January 21, 2025. On May 1, 2025, Trump announced that Rubio would become acting national security advisor, replacing Mike Waltz, while continuing to serve as secretary of state. This dual role was last held by Henry Kissinger from 1973 to 1975 (serving a combined tenure in one or both positions from 1969 to 1977) in the Nixon and Ford administrations. In February 2025, Rubio also became the acting archivist of the United States and the acting USAID administrator, holding these roles until February 2026 and August 2025, respectively. He is the first Latino to serve as secretary of state or act as national security advisor, making him the highest-ranking Hispanic American official in U . history.