Marco Rubio

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. They 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

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 and Concepción Pazos). Antonio was from Pinar del Río, Cuba. Dionisio was Spanish, from Murcia, the son of Juan José Rubio Guillén and Juana de Dios Munuera.

Marco’s paternal grandmother was Eloísa Reina y Sánchez (the daughter of Rafael Reina Salvadores and Maria Eloisa Sanchez y Otaño). Eloísa was born in Havana, Cuba, to a Spanish father, from Valencia. Rafael was the son of Rafael Reina Sanchez and Maria de Los Nieves Salvadores.

Marco’s maternal grandfather was Pedro Víctor García (the son of Carlos 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 Perez and Nasaria Armas. Ramona was the daughter of Miguel Garcia and Maria de Leon, who were also from the Canary Islands.

Marco’s maternal grandmother was Dominga de la Caridad Rodriguez Chiroldes (the daughter of Nicolas Rodriguez y Velez and Beatrice Chiroldes y Jimenez). Dominga was born in Colón, Matanzas, Cuba. Nicolas was the son of Jose Rodriguez and Josefa Velez.

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