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Marco Rubio

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Marco Rubio
United States Senator
from Florida
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 3, 2011Serving with Bill Nelson
Preceded byGeorge LeMieux
Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives
In office
January 2, 2007 – January 2, 2009
Preceded byAllan Bense
Succeeded byRay Sansom
Member of the
Florida House of Representatives
from the 111th District
In office
January 25, 2000 – January 2, 2009
Preceded byCarlos Valdes
Succeeded byErik Fresen
Personal details
BornMarco Antonio Rubio
(1971-05-28) May 28, 1971 (age 53)
Miami, Florida
Political partyRepublican
SpouseJeanette Dousdebes
Children4
Alma materSanta Fe College
University of Florida (B.A.)
University of Miami (J.D.)
ProfessionLawyer
Websitewww.rubio.senate.gov

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).

Born to Cuban immigrants, Rubio was raised in Miami, Florida, and Las Vegas, Nevada. He attended Tarkio College and Santa Fe Community College before graduating from the University of Florida. He earned his J.D. from the University of Miami School of Law in 1996 while interning for U.S. Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. In the late 1990s he served as a City Commissioner for West Miami. Rubio 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 for an independent run. In a three-way split against Crist and Democratic candidate Kendrick Meek, Rubio won the general election in November 2010 with 48.9% of the vote.

Rubio has been called the "crown prince" of the Tea Party movement. He has been mentioned as a potential choice for the Republican vice presidential nomination in 2012 but has said he is not interested. In June 2012, it was reported that Romney was vetting Rubio as a possible running mate.

Early life, education, and early political career

Rubio was born in Miami, Florida, 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 later naturalized as U.S. citizens in 1975. Rubio's grandfather immigrated to the U.S. in 1962 without a visa and was detained by immigration authorities. An immigration judge ordered Rubio's grandfather deported, but ultimately U.S. immigration authorities used their discretion to allow him to remain in the U.S. without a visa. Rubio's grandfather likely remained in the U.S. illegally until he applied for residency in 1966.

Rubio's family was Catholic, but 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. 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.

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 from the University of Florida in 1993, and his J.D. degree cum laude from the University of Miami School of Law in 1996.

While studying law, he interned for U.S. Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. Marco Rubio served as a City Commissioner for West Miami before being elected to the Florida legislature.

Florida House of Representatives (2000–2009)

Rubio was elected to the Florida House of Representatives for the 111th district in a special election on January 25, 2000. He won each of his re-election bids. In November 2006, he was elected Speaker of the Florida House for the 2007–09 term.

He is the author of the book 100 Innovative Ideas for Florida's Future. This book included information that Rubio compiled while traveling around the state and talking with citizens. This was done through what Rubio calls "Idearaisers". Many of the issues that he pushed for in his first year as speaker came from ideas in this book. During 2007, Marco Rubio championed a major overhaul of the Florida tax system, arguing it would reduce property taxes and decrease the size of government.

During his tenure serving as Speaker of the Florida House, Rubio shared his residence with another Florida State Representative, David Rivera. The two men co-owned a home together in Tallahassee, which later fell into foreclosure after deferring months of mortgage payments. This issue surfaced in June 2010, during Rubio's run for the US Senate but was considered resolved according to Rubio's spokesman.

U.S. Senate (2011–present)

2010 election

Rubio speaking at CPAC in February 2010.

On May 5, 2009, Rubio announced on his website that he planned to run for the United States Senate in 2010 for the Republican seat being vacated by Sen. Mel Martinez, who had resigned and been replaced by George LeMieux. Prior to the announcement, he had been meeting with fundraisers and supporters throughout the state. Initially trailing by double-digits against the incumbent Governor of his own party, Charlie Crist, Rubio eventually surpassed Crist in polling for the Republican nomination.

On April 28, 2010, Crist announced he would be running as an independent, effectively ceding the Republican nomination to Rubio. Several of Crist's top fundraisers, as well as Republican leadership, refused to support Crist after Rubio won the Republican nomination for Senate.

On November 2, 2010, Marco Rubio won the senatorial election with 48.9% of the vote to Crist's 29.7% and Democrat Kendrick Meek's 20.1%. On May 20, 2011, Marco Rubio visited Puerto Rico's governor, Luis Fortuño, and made a statement of wanting to "represent the Puerto Ricans" since he already felt he owed those who had voted for him in the Florida election.

Following his victory in the elections, Rubio soon became the subject of speculation as a potential GOP candidate for the presidential election of 2012. Rubio stated shortly after taking office that he has no interest in running for president or vice president in 2012.

Tenure

Upon taking office, Rubio hired Cesar Conda, former lobbyist and "top domestic policy adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney during the first two years of the Bush administration" as his Chief of Staff.

Rubio is also a member of the Congressional Hispanic Conference.

Rubio cosponsored a resolution, which was passed, to declare September as National Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Month.

Rubio's amendment, co-sponsored by Joe Manchin (D – WV), to allow employers to be exempted from newly mandated coverage for contraception, based on religious or moral grounds by such employers, did not pass the Senate.

Committee assignments

Personal life

Questioned immigration story

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; they had in fact left Cuba in 1956, during the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista.

In response to the controversy, Senator Rubio’s office elaborated on the events in question in the following way. The office noted that after arrival in the U.S. in 1956, his parents returned to Cuba after Castro’s takeover (i.e., as legal immigrants returning to their home country for a visit with extended family), with possible intent to return to Cuba. In particular, the office stated that Senator Rubio's father, Mario, remained in the U.S., in Florida, in 1961, “wrapping up the family’s matters" while his mother, Oriales, returned to Cuban with their two children “with the intention of remaining permanently”, but that it soon became clear to the visiting Rubios that “Cuba was headed ... toward Communism", leading to a return to the U.S. within weeks. While headlining the conclusion that Rubio embellished his imigration story in political presentations, the same Washington Post article included examination of the passports of Mario and Oriales Rubio, and confirmed the underlying travel contentions made by the Senator's office: that following admission to the U.S. in 1956 and Castro ascendance to power in January 1959, Oriales Rubio made 4 documented trips to Cuba, including a month-long visit in February-March 1961, for a total time in Castro's Cuba of just over 2 months (with visits by the father, Mario, being a shorter five days).

Senator Rubio has clarified information on his senatorial web pages, where it now states that "My faith in America’s promise was shaped early on by my parents who left Cuba in 1956 and, after Fidel Castro solidified his communist grip, were never able to return." He has otherwise not altered the essence of his family's immigration story in response to the Post's and related stories, noting that it 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", but about the aspirations that the family sought and achieved through its immigration. Even so, The Washington Post story suggests that Rubio's purported "embellishments" might resonate with voters in Florida, who could be less impressed by economic migrants seeking a better life in the U.S., rather than political refugees from a communist regime. Notably, as of July 2012, the Background subsection (tab) of the WP Politics Section of the Washington Post states that "Rubio was born in Miami to parents who fled Cuba after Communist leader Fidel Castro's takeover."

Marriage, family, and religion

Senator Rubio married his teenage sweetheart. Jeanette Dousdebes-Rubio, from a family of Colombian descent, also attended South Miami High School, though their meeting came at a later neighborhood function (he at age 19, she at age 17). Dousdebes-Rubio worked as a bank teller, joined the Miami Dolphins cheerleaders with her younger sister in 1997 (where on game days, the young Rubio cheered from the stands); she had interests in fashion design before expecting their first child, and now stays at home with their four children, Amanda, Daniella, Anthony, and Dominic, as well as leading a weekly woman's bible study group from their home. Rubio attends Catholic Mass, and Christ Fellowship, a nondenominational church in West Kendall, Florida. Rubio and his family live in West Miami, Florida.

Electoral history

Florida U.S. Senate Election 2010
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Marco Rubio 2,645,743 48.9%
Independent Charlie Crist 1,607,549 29.7%
Democratic Kendrick Meek 1,092,936 20.2%
Libertarian Alexander Snitker 24,850 0.5%

References

  1. ^ "Representative Marco Rubio". Florida House of Representatives.
  2. "Midterms 2010: Tea Party 'Crown Prince' Marco Rubio wins". The Daily Telegraph. London. November 3, 2010. Retrieved August 18, 2011.
  3. "Insiders Swoon Over Rubio for VP Nomination". National Journal. October 13, 2011. Retrieved October 13, 2011.
  4. Gibson, Jake (October 5, 2011). "Senator Marco Rubio Says He Won't Be 2012 Vice Presidential Nominee". Fox News. Retrieved October 17, 2011.
  5. Lemire, Jonathan (June 19, 2012). "Mitt Romney: Marco Rubio is being 'thoroughly' vetted by campaign as possible VP pick". Daily News. New York. Retrieved June 24, 2012.
  6. Linkins, Jason (October 20, 2011). "Marco Rubio, Bobby Jindal Become Focus Of Bipartisan Birthers". The Huffington Post.
  7. ^ Roig-Franzia, Manuel (October 21, 2011). "Marco Rubio's compelling family story embellishes facts, documents show". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 21, 2011.
  8. ^ "Marco Rubio's grandfather ordered deported to Cuba in 1962". WPBF. April 25, 2012. Retrieved June 29, 2012.
  9. Roig-Franzia, Manuel (June 17, 2012). "Marco Rubio's grandfather had difficult transition to U.S." Washington Post. Retrieved June 29, 2012.
  10. Thomas Burr, "Marco Rubio’s book explains why he left Mormonism", Salt Lake Tribune, 2012-06-18.
  11. Marrapodi, Erin (February 23, 2012). "Sen. Marco Rubio's religious journey: Catholic to Mormon to Catholic to Baptist and Catholic". CNN. Retrieved February 24, 2012.
  12. ^ Jason O'Bryan (November 1, 2010). "What Is Marco Rubio's Religion?". Politics Daily. Retrieved January 19, 2012.
  13. Montanaro, Domenico (February 23, 2012), Rubio's Mormon past revealed, NBC News
  14. Munzenrieder, Kyle (February 23, 2012), Tween Marco Rubio Was a Mormon, But Does Anyone Really Care?, Miami New Times
  15. "Biography – About Marco"
  16. Clark, Lesley (January 5, 2011). "Miami's Marco Rubio becomes new Florida senator". Miami Herald. Retrieved August 24, 2011.
  17. (PDF). Republican Business Council. 2010. Retrieved May 24, 2012. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
  18. "Sun Sentinel report on Rubio". Sun-sentinel.com. Retrieved November 3, 2010.
  19. "Rubio claims 57 of his 100 ideas were made law by the Florida Legislature". Politifact. Retrieved May 24, 2012.
  20. "Marco Rubio's U.S. Senate campaign grew out of his 2007 antitax roots". Tampa Bay Times. July 12, 2010. Retrieved May 24, 2012.
  21. Bender, Michael C. (June 17, 2010). "Rubio faces foreclosure on Tally home; his campaign says it's resolved". The Palm Beach Post. Retrieved May 5, 2011.
  22. Reinhard, Beth (March 5, 2009). "Marco Rubio quietly registers to run for U.S. Senate". The Miami Herald.
  23. "January 26, 2010 – Rubio Edges Crist In Florida Gop Senate Race, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; President Obama Under Water As Voters Disapprove". Quinnipiac University.
  24. "Election 2010: Florida Republican Primary for Senate". Rasmussen Reports. February 1, 2010. Archived from the original on February 9, 2010. Retrieved February 25, 2012.
  25. Schwandt, Kimberly (April 28, 2010). "Crist to Run as Independent in FL Sen Race". Fox News. Retrieved July 10, 2010.
  26. Romm, Tony (April 18, 2010). "McConnell: Crist would lose all GOP support if he ran as independent". The Hill. Retrieved July 10, 2010.
  27. Martin, Jonathan; Catanese, David (April 17, 2010). "Top Charlie Crist supporters torn over indy bid". Politico. Retrieved April 17, 2010.
  28. Farrington, Brendan; Kay, Jennifer (August 24, 2010). "Marco Rubio Wins Florida GOP Senate Primary". The Huffington Post. Retrieved November 3, 2010.
  29. Balz, Dan; Branigin, William (November 3, 2010). "2010 election results show Republicans winning the House, not the Senate". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 3, 2010.
  30. Martínez, Andrea (May 20, 2011). "Senador republicano visita a Fortuño". El Nuevo Dia (in Spanish). Guaynabo, PR. Retrieved May 20, 2011. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  31. Knickerbocker, Brad (November 6, 2010). "President Obama, Marco Rubio face off on tax cuts". The Christian Science Monitor.
  32. Goodman, Lee-Anne (November 5, 2010). "Florida's new senator seen as 'Great Right Hope'". Toronto Star.
  33. Rahn, Will (January 10, 2011). "Marco Rubio: I want to be a senator, not president or vice president". The Daily Caller. Retrieved January 19, 2012.
  34. Hayes, Stephen (January 28, 2011) Marco Rubio Picks a Chief of Staff: Cesar Conda, Weekly Standard
  35. Voss, Laura. "Congress Dedicates September as National Spinal Cord Injury Month." Paralyzed Veterans of America. September 12, 2011.
  36. "White House Attacks Marco Rubio's Contraception Bill." AP. February 13, 2012.
  37. http://www.rubio.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/biography, accessed July 14, 2012.,
  38. "Marco Rubio: My family's flight from Castro". Politico.com. October 21, 2011.
  39. "Marco Rubio's story", Los Angeles Times, October 30, 2011
  40. "Marco Rubio's story", Los Angeles Times, October 30, 2011
  41. http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/marco-rubio-r-fla/gIQA5xxt6O_topic.html, accessed July 22, 2012
  42. http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/national/the-women-behind-the-men-who-would-be-floridas-senator/1112189, accessed 14 July 2012
  43. Rettig, Jessica (May 4, 2010). "10 Things You Didn't Know About Marco Rubio". U.S. News and World Report.
  44. http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/national/the-women-behind-the-men-who-would-be-floridas-senator/1112189, accessed 14 July 2012
  45. "Marco 101". Marco Rubio for US Senate.
  46. http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/11/01/what-is-marco-rubios-religion/, accessed July 14, 2012.
  47. Thompson, Damian (November 12, 2010). "Marco Rubio Tries to Still Debate Over Religion". The Telegraph. London.
  48. "Rubio's income grew with his political clout, tax records show". Miami Herald. May 22, 2010.
  49. http://www.cfmiami.org, accessed July 14, 2012.

External links

U.S. Senate
Preceded byGeorge LeMieux United States Senator (Class 3) from Florida
January 3, 2011 – present
Served alongside: Bill Nelson 		Succeeded byIncumbent
U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial)
Preceded byJohn Hoeven
R-North Dakota 		United States Senators by seniority
94th 		Succeeded byRon Johnson
R-Wisconsin
Florida House of Representatives
Preceded byCarlos Valdes Member of the Florida House of Representatives from the 111th district
2000–2009 		Succeeded byErik Fresen
Preceded byAllan Bense Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives
2007–2009 		Succeeded byRay Sansom
Party political offices
Preceded byMel Martinez Republican Party nominee for United States Senator from Florida
(Class 3)
2010 		Succeeded byCurrent
Current United States senators
President: ▌ Kamala Harris (D) ‧ President pro tempore: ▌ Patty Murray (D)
Florida's current delegation to the United States Congress
Senators
Representatives
(ordered by district)
United States senators from Florida
Class 1 United States Senate
Class 3
Statewide political officials of Florida
U.S. senators
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