President-elect Donald Trump officially picked Senator Marco Rubio as his next secretary of state on Wednesday.
Trump said he was greatly honored to nominate the Florida Republican for the cabinet position in his upcoming administration.
“Marco is a Highly Respected Leader, and a very powerful Voice for Freedom,” Trump said in a statement from his presidential-transition team. “He will be a strong Advocate for our Nation, a true friend to our Allies, and a fearless Warrior who will never back down to our adversaries.”
Rubio’s nomination, first reported by the New York Times on Monday, requires confirmation by the GOP-controlled Senate. Should Rubio be confirmed, Florida governor Ron DeSantis will be tasked with appointing his successor in the upper chamber.
Rubio, who has held the same Senate seat since 2011, holds strong foreign-policy views that will complement Trump’s America First vision. In particular, Rubio strongly backs Israel in its war with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon and has criticized the Biden administration for not supporting its ally enough. He also believes Iran, China, and Russia are the greatest threats to the U.S.
After Trump won the presidential election last week, Rubio declared a new era in U.S. foreign policy.
“We are now in an era in global affairs where responsible American foreign policy must be based not on idealistic fantasies but on pragmatic decisions that prioritize the core national interest of the United States above all else,” he posted on X.
Rubio has repeatedly blasted the Biden administration’s approach of funding a “stalemate” in the Russia-Ukraine war, referring to the more than $64 billion in weapons and military assistance that the U.S. has provided Ukraine since 2022.
“That’s just not realistic,” he said of the foreign aid in a post-election interview. “Add to that, Ukraine is being wiped out. Every day, Ukraine is being hit and damaged in ways that are going to take 100 years to repair and restore. So we do want to see that conflict end, and it’s going to require some very difficult choices.”
Once considered a rabid neoconservative, Rubio has increasingly aligned with Trump in recent years. When Trump first came onto the political scene, the pair verbally sparred as candidates during the 2016 presidential primary. At the time, Trump called Rubio “Little Marco” and Rubio shot back by insulting his opponent’s small hands. Since then, they have become close allies.
The senator was previously in the running to be Trump’s running mate this election cycle before Senator J.D. Vance (R., Ohio) was chosen.
During his last term, Trump often clashed with his first secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, over policy disagreements. The Iran nuclear deal was one area on which the two did not see eye to eye. Trump ultimately fired Tillerson, a former ExxonMobil executive who had no prior military or government experience, and appointed then-CIA director Mike Pompeo as secretary of state in March 2018.
Rubio responded to the news that he was nominated for the third highest-ranking position in the executive branch, acknowledging the role is a “tremendous responsibility” and saying he is honored to advance the president-elect’s foreign-policy agenda.
“Under the leadership of President Trump we will deliver peace through strength and always put the interests of Americans and America above all else,” Rubio posted on social media. “I look forward to earning the support of my colleagues in the U.S. Senate so the President has his national security and foreign policy team in place when he takes office on January 20.”