Profile Text
Rubio in 2014, photo by Christopher Halloran /bigstock.com
Birth Name: Marco Antonio Rubio
Place of Birth: Miami, Florida, U.S.
Date of Birth: May 28, 1971
Ethnicity: Cuban [Spanish, small amounts of Indigenous and African]
Marco Rubio is an American politician. A Republican, he has served as a U.S. Senator from Florida, since January 3, 2011, and Vice Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, since February 3, 2021. He was previously a Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, from November 21, 2006 to November 18, 2008, and Chair of the Senate Small Business Committee, from January 3, 2019 to February 3, 2021.
He was a candidate for the Republican Party’s nomination for President of the United States in 2016 .
Marco is the son of Cuban-born parents, Oriales Garcia and Mario Rubio Reina. Most of his recent ancestry is Spanish, where (at least) five of his great-grandparents were born. He has distant ancestors who lived in Mexico.
Marco’s parents moved to the U.S. in 1956, as economic migrants, while Fulgencio Batista was President of Cuba. They became U.S. citizens in 1975. A childhood picture of Marco with his parents and sister can be seen here . Marco is married to bank teller and cheerleader Jeanette Dousdebes Rubio, with whom he has four children.
Marco’s sister, photographer Veronica Rubio, was previously married to actor and singer Carlos Ponce .
A DNA test whose results were displayed on the show Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (2019) stated that Marco’s genetic ancestry is:
*92.4% European *4.6% Native American *1.6% Sub-Saharan African *0.2% North African *1.2% Unmatched
*92.4% European *4.6% Native American *1.6% Sub-Saharan African *0.2% North African *1.2% Unmatched
Marco’s matrilineal DNA line is Indigenous.
Research by the show found that he descends from a landowning family that had been in Cuba since the 1700s, though recent generations of his family were working class.
Marco’s paternal grandfather was Antonio Rubio Pazos (the son of Dionisio Rubio Munuera and Concepción Gargia Sánchez/Pazos). Antonio was born in Pinar del Río, Cuba, to Spanish parents, from La Unión, Murcia. Dionisio was the son of Juan José Rubio Guillén and Juana de Dios Munuera Alegría.
Marco’s paternal grandmother was Eloísa Reina y Sánchez (the daughter of Rafael Reina Salvadores and Maria Eloisa Sánchez y Otaño). Eloísa was born in Havana, Cuba. Rafael was born in Valencia, Comunidad Valenciana, Spain, the son of Rafael María Reina Sánchez, who was from Sevilla, Andalucía; and of María de Los Nieves Salvadores Esteve.
Marco’s maternal grandfather was Pedro Victor García (the son of Carlos/Calixto Pérez Armas and Ramona García y León). Pedro was born in Santo Domingo, Las Villas, Cuba, to Spanish parents. Carlos was born in Canary Islands, Spain, the son of Antonio Pérez and Nasaria Armas. Marco’s great-grandmother Ramona was born in Santo Domingo, the daughter of Miguel García y García, who was from Villa de Ves, Albacete, Spain; and of Maria Gertrudis de León, who was from the Canary Islands.
Marco’s maternal grandmother was Dominga de la Caridad Rodríguez Chiróldez (the daughter of Nicolás Rodríguez y Vélez and Beatrice/Beatriz Chiróldez y Jiménez). Dominga was born in Colón, Matanzas, Cuba. Nicolás was born in Pinar del Río, Cuba, the son of Jose Rodríguez and Josefa Vélez. Beatrice was born in Pinar del Río, the daughter of José Chiróldez González; and of a mother surnamed Jiménez.
Marco is the second person of Hispanic ancestry to have won a caucus and/or primary for a major American political party’s Presidential nomination. He won 3 contests in 2016. Ted Cruz , also in 2016, is the first person of Hispanic ancestry to have won a major caucus and/or primary, with the Iowa caucuses being the first. Rubio and Cruz are also the only people born in the 1970s to have won a major party’s presidential caucus and/or primary (thus far).
Marco is one of several people of Hispanic ancestry to have mounted a major campaign for President of the United States. The others were/are: * Ben Fernandez (who sought the 1980, 1984, and 1988 Republican nominations; Fernandez’s parents were Mexican) * Bill Richardson (who sought the 2008 Democratic nomination; three of Richardson’s grandparents were Hispanic) * Ted Cruz (2016; Republican; won 11 contests; Cruz’s father is Cuban) * Richard Ojeda (who sought the 2020 Democratic nomination; Ojeda’s paternal grandfather was Mexican) * Julián Castro (who sought the 2020 Democratic nomination; Castro is of Mexican descent) * Francis Suarez (who sought the 2024 Republican nomination; Suarez is of Cuban descent)
Several prominent candidates for President of the United States can be considered Hispanic in a sense, though they were not of Spanish and/or Indigenous ancestry: * George W. Romney (who sought the 1968 Republican nomination, and whose name was placed in nomination for 1964’s; he was born in Mexico, of non-Hispanic descent) * Pierre S. du Pont IV (who sought the 1988 Republican nomination; his maternal grandfather was born in Chile, of non-Hispanic descent) * John McCain (who sought the 2000 Republican nomination, and who was the 2008 Republican nominee; he was born in Panama, of non-Hispanic descent) * Mitt Romney (who sought the 2008 Republican nomination, and who was the 2012 Republican nominee; his father George was born in Mexico, of non-Hispanic descent)
Sources: Official website of Marco Rubio – http://www.rubio.senate.gov
Genealogy of Marco Rubio – http://www.geni.com