Rubio speaking at the 2015 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Maryland.
Senator Marco Rubio of Florida announced that he will be running for president for the 2016 elections on Monday, making him the third Republican candidate and the fourth candidate overall to announce his bid. He is now also the second Cuban-American candidate after Ted Cruz.
“Grounded by the lessons of our history, but inspired by the promise of our future, I announce my candidacy for President of the United States of America,” said Rubio at Miami’s Freedom Tower, known for once being the place through which thousands of Cuban immigrants fleeing from the Cuban regime went to come into the U.S.
A son of Cuban immigrants, Rubio highlighted his background in his bid announcement.
“My candidacy might seem improbably to some watching from abroad,” Rubio said. “In many countries, the highest office in the land is reserved for the rich and powerful. But I live in an exceptional country, where even the son of a bartender and a maid can have the same dreams and the same future as those who come from power and privilege.”
Many suspect that Rubio will be emphasizing his personal narrative, as well as his youth as the 43-year-old youngest candidate thus far throughout his campaign.
In terms of his stances regarding specific issues, Rubio lost support from many conservatives by deciding to back a bi-partisan immigration reform to offer citizenship to undocumented immigrants. Rubio has not explicitly stated his position on LGBT issues, but said that if the Supreme Court rules that it is to be constitutionally protected, the country “must abide” by the ruling, according to a CNN report.
Rubio, a law graduate of the University of Miami, is a first-term senator from Florida, a position into which he was elected in 2010. Previously, he has served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2000 to 2008, in which he also served as the speaker.
Reports say that Rubio grew up in the Catholic Church until his family converted to Mormonism, only to return to Catholicism later. Currently, he attends both Catholic mass on Sundays and a Southern Baptist church called Christ Fellowship on Saturdays.
