Marco Rubio expected to be named Donald Trump’s new secretary of state

President-elect Donald Trump is wasting no time building his new cabinet and staff and is already stocking his administration with Florida politicos.
His first appointment was longtime campaign manager Susie Wiles for the new White House Chief of Staff, and on Monday night Trump named U.S. Rep. Michael Waltz to be his national security adviser.
Next up? Possibly his one-time former opponent for the presidency, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio.
Rubio, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, is Trump’s pick to become his new Secretary of State, according to several news sources. Rubio, a Cuban American, would be the first Latino to serve in the position.
Rubio has deep foreign policy experience and although he began political life as a moderate and once was a staunch Trump opponent, he has converted into a close ally who was a finalist on Trump’s vice presidential list this year. Rubio has expressed support for Ukraine’s war effort against Russia but voted against additional aid for the country last year.
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The offer has not been officially announced, but a plethora of GOP leaders such as Sen. Rick Scott already have congratulated him.
“I’m thrilled for my friend, Florida colleague, and our next Secretary of State @marcorubio!” Scott posted on X Monday evening. “He will restore American leadership around the world, especially in Latin America, as he represents the United States with dignity and courage!”
Here’s what to know:
Florida’s senior senator, Marco Antonio Rubio, 53, has been a member of the Senate since 2011 and was a Florida state representative and served as House Speaker before that.
Born in Miami to Cuban immigrants, Rubio lived in Nevada with his family for three years but they returned to Florida where he attended South Miami Senior High School. He had a football scholarship to Tarkio College in Missouri but left after a year for then-named Santa Fe Community College in Gainesville. Rubio has a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from the University of Florida and a Juris Doctor cum laude from the University of Miami School of Law.
After finishing law school, Rubio was elected to a city commissioner seat in West Miami and became a member of the Florida House of Representatives two years after that, campaigning as a moderate. He was reelected four more times while practicing law for a Miami firm. He was named the House Republican Leader in 2002 and became Speaker in 2005.
In 2010, Rubio beat out then-Florida Gov. Charlie Crist for the Republican Senate nomination and won. In 2023, Rubio was ranked as Florida’s most effective Congressional lawmaker.
Rubio launched a presidential bid in 2016 but consistently lost to Trump in the primaries and finally suspended his campaign after coming in second in Florida.
Rubio has gradually leaned more into MAGA territory over the years and was a finalist in Trump’s 2024 vice president list, although Trump ultimately tapped JD Vance.
Rubio is married to Jeanette Dousdebes, a former bank teller and Miami Dolphins cheerleader, and they have four children. The family lives in West Miami.
During the 2016 presidential primary, Rubio resisted personal attacks for the first part of his campaign but came out swinging later on, calling Trump a “con artist” saying he was “wholly unprepared to be president of the United States” and even slyly suggesting Trump was not well-endowed, among other things.
In turn, Trump called him “Little Marco,” mocked him for being robotic and called him a “clown” and a “lightweight.” However, like many other GOP leaders that Trump has mocked, Rubio endorsed Trump afterward and has supported his initiatives since.
He also denounced the case against Trump for hush money payments to an adult movie star as “a sham political show trial like the ones Communists used against their political opponents in Cuba and the Soviet Union” and joined seven of the most MAGA-aligned senators in signing a pledge not to confirm any of President Joe Biden’s political or judicial appointments or help Democrats advance non-security related federal funding increases or expedited Democratic bills.
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If Trump picks Rubio, Gov. Ron DeSantis gets to choose his temporary replacement in the Senate.
That person would hold the seat until 2026, when a special election would be held for the final two years of Rubio’s current term.
Speculation on potential replacements has included DeSantis chief of staff James Uthmeier, Lt. Governor Jeanette Nuñez, State Attorney Ashley Moody, former Florida House Speaker Jose Oliva, DeSantis’ wife Casey, or even DeSantis himself.
The U.S. Secretary of State is the president’s chief foreign affairs adviser and carries out the president’s foreign policies, according to the U.S. Department of State. Duties and responsibilities include: