What is Marco Rubio's Net Worth?
Marco "Little Marco" Rubio is a Republican politician and lawyer who has a net worth of $400 thousand. Marco Rubio served as the senior United States senator from Florida since 2011. Previously, he served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2000 to 2008, and unsuccessfully ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016. Among his political positions, Rubio opposes women's rights, gun control, and affordable health care, and denies the reality of climate change.
Financial Problems
Between 1998 and 2008 Marco earned $2.38 million from his law career and House salary. Unfortunately, he did not save very much of this income.
When he was first elected to the House in 2000, he literally reported to have a net worth of ZERO. According to his 2009 financial statement, at that time Marco reported his net worth to be negative $37,000. His finances were being pressured under various student debt and multiple mortgages. At one point a property he owned in Tallahassee was facing foreclosure after he reportedly did not make a mortgage payment for five months. He sold this home at an $18,000 loss in 2015.
In 2012 he earned an $800,000 advance to publish a biography.
In the following years after earning the advance, Marco splurged on a number of frivolous purchases, notably an $80,000 speed boat.
His 2018 financial statement estimated his net worth had fallen all the way down to negative $1.3 million.
Early Life and Education
Marco Rubio was born on May 28, 1971 in Miami, Florida as the third child of Cuban immigrants Oriales and Mario, who had come to the United States in 1956 prior to the Cuban Revolution. He has an older brother named Mario Jr. and an older sister named Barbara, as well as a younger sister named Veronica. Rubio spent part of his childhood in Las Vegas, Nevada, where his father worked as a bartender and his mother as a housekeeper. Back in Miami, he attended South Miami Senior High School, from which he graduated in 1989. Rubio went on to attend Tarkio College in Missouri for a year before transferring to Santa Fe Community College in Florida. He then attended the University of Florida, from which he graduated with his BA in political science in 1993. Rubio subsequently enrolled at the University of Miami School of Law, earning his JD in 1996.
Career Beginnings
While he was still in law school, Rubio interned for US Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. Two years after graduating from law school, he was elected to a seat as city commissioner for West Miami.
Florida House of Representatives
In late 1999, Rubio ran in a special election for the 111th House District in the Florida House of Representatives. Although he came in second in the Republican primary, he won the runoff election and subsequently beat Democrat Anastasia Garcia to win the seat. Rubio was reelected unopposed in late 2000, and was reelected unopposed again in 2002. He went on to be reelected to third and fourth terms in 2004 and 2006, respectively. During the final years of his tenure, from late 2006 to late 2008, Rubio served as House Speaker.
Teaching Career
After leaving the Florida Legislature in 2008, Rubio started teaching as an adjunct professor at Florida International University under a fellowship appointment. He returned to the school in 2011 after he joined the US Senate. Rubio taught in the Department of Politics and International Relations, heading courses on Florida legislative politics.
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US Senate
In 2009, Rubio announced that he would be running for the US Senate seat being vacated by Mel Martínez. Although he initially trailed incumbent governor Charlie Crist, he ultimately overtook him and won the Republican nomination. Rubio went on to win the general election against Democrat Kendrick Meek. After suspending his failed presidential campaign in early 2016, he ran for reelection to the Senate and won a second term. Rubio was reelected to a third term in 2022 by beating Democrat Val Demings.
Early in his Senate tenure, he was an influential defender of the US embargo against Cuba, and was a major proponent of the US's involvement in the military campaign to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi in Libya. Meanwhile, he voted against the Budget Control Act of 2011. Later, in 2013, Rubio was part of a bipartisan group advocating for comprehensive immigration reform legislation. He also voted against an expansion of background checks for gun purchases, and voted against publishing the Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture.
2016 Presidential Campaign
In the spring of 2014, Rubio announced his intention to run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016; he officially launched his campaign the following year. In March of 2016, Rubio suspended his campaign after coming in second place in the primary in Florida, his home state. He later endorsed Donald Trump for president, despite having called him a con artist and "wholly unprepared to be president."
Political Positions
A conservative Republican and a hawk, Rubio prioritizes defense spending, and supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the US's military intervention in Libya in 2011. He opposes women's rights, net neutrality, and affordable health care, and denies the reality of climate change. Additionally, like other members of the GOP, Rubio opposes gun control and is in the pocket of the NRA. In regard to education, he advocates for the expansion of public charter schools and the shuttering of the federal Department of Education.
Rubio has perpetuated GOP lies about election fraud. In 2018, he claimed without evidence that Democrats were part of a conspiracy with election officials to reelect Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson to the Florida Senate. No evidence of voter fraud was found. Later, following the election of Joe Biden to the US presidency in 2020, Rubio defended Trump's choice to lie about fraud in the election. However, he eventually came around to the reality of Biden's victory and voted to certify the election results.
Personal Life
In 1998, Rubio wed former Miami Dolphins cheerleader Jeanette Dousdebes. They have four children together and reside in West Miami, Florida.
Real Estate
At one point in 2001, a year when he made $90,000, the Rubio family's spending was so out of control that Marco and his family moved into his wife's mother's house. Two years later Marco bought the mother-in-law's West Miami house for $175,000.
In 2005 he paid $550,000 for a new home in West Miami.
