Florida: Marco Rubio

Marco Antonio Rubio (born May 28, 1971) is an American politician, lawyer, and current United States Senator-elect from Florida.[1] Rubio was the Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives during the 2007 and 2008 legislative sessions. He was first elected to the Florida House as a Republican on January 25, 2000, from the 111th district. He is the GOP Senator-elect for the Florida U.S. Senate seat vacated by Sen. Mel Martinez and currently held by George LeMieux.

Early life
Rubio is the second son and third child of Cuban exiles Mario Rubio (1927–2010) and Oria Garcia (born 1931), and was born in Miami, Florida. His siblings are: Mario (born 1950), Barbara (born 1960) and Veronica (born 1972). Rubio is a former Roman Catholic, who currently attends the Evangelical Christ Fellowship Church in West Kendall, leading to criticism. Rubio is fluent in Spanish. His father was a bartender and his mother worked as a hotel housekeeper in Las Vegas, Nevada. Rubio lived in Las Vegas from 1979 to 1985, before his family returned to Miami in the summer of 1985.

Education
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 College, and then the University of Florida. He earned his B.S. degree in political science from the University of Florida in 1993, and his J.D. degree cum laude from the University of Miami in 1996. While studying law, he interned for Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.

Political career
Marco Rubio served as a City Commissioner for West Miami before being elected to the Florida House of Representatives for the 111th District in a special election on January 25, 2000. He has won each of his re-election bids. In November 2006, he was elected Speaker of the Florida State House for the 2006-08 term.

He is the author of the book 100 Innovative Ideas for Florida's Future. This book was compiled from Rubio's travels around the state to gather ideas from 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. He argued it would reduce property taxes and decrease the size of government.

2010 U.S. Senate campaign
United States Senate election in Florida, 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 Wednesday, 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 Nov. 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%.

Personal life
Rubio is married to Jeanette Dousdebes Rubio, a former Miami Dolphins cheerleader in 1997, who is of Colombian descent, and together they have four children named Amanda, Daniella, Anthony, and Dominic.[13] Rubio and his family live in West Miami, Florida.