Marco Rubio is an American politician, born on 1971 May 28th. Rubio is currently serving as one of the two Florida senators. He is a strong Republic member, a party that saw his rise and grow in American politics. The senator is a Cuban American, born in Miami, Florida, and has served in various political positions, both at the state and federal levels. Rubio started his political career in 1999 when a special election was held in a bid to fill the vacant 11th House District within the Florida Representatives House (Biography Newsletter, 2020). The seat was left vacant after Carlos Valdes, the then-holder, left for the vacant senatorial seat. Rubio started his campaigns for the seat by advocating for early childhood education and tax cuts. In essence, these have been his key policy interests in his long political career. In his first participation in politics, Rubio won by a landslide, defeating the Democrats candidate, Anastasia Garcia, with close to 72% of the cast votes. He also won the reelection, whereby he was unopposed in the 2000 elections. Rubio also won the 2004 reelection by 66% of the votes cast (Biography Newsletter, 2020). He also won his fourth term in 2006 by going unopposed. He also served as a majority leader between 2002 and 2006.
Rubio received his bachelor’s degree in 1993 from the University of Florida. He later moved from the University of Florida to the University of Miami, whereby he took his law degree. Rubio’s family income is generally from his political, law, and teaching careers. The family is worth $400 thousand (Fontevecchia, 2016). In the 2016 senatorial election, Rubio garnered 4,835,191 votes, representing 52.0% of the cast votes. In terms of political positions, Rubio is opposed to same-sex marriage and also advocates for the provision of citizenship to undocumented American citizens.
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Rick Scott is also a Florida senator born in 1952 on December 1st. Scott is an American businessman and politician who has served as a Junior US senator for Florida since his election in 2019 (Ballotpedia, 021). The senator is also a member of the Republican Party, which he used during his election to the senate. After his high school education, Scott spent the next year at a community college and later joined the US Navy. Scott attended the Dedman School of Law, Southern Methodist University, and the University of Missouri, Kansas City. The politician started his career as an attorney at Johnson and Swanson law-firm in Texas. He also partnered with Richard Rainwater in 1988 to purchase the Columbia Hospital Corporation. Scott is an experienced politician, having served as the Florida governor between 2011 and 2019. His first attempt for the gubernatorial seat in 2010 saw him defeat Alex Sink by only 1.2% points (Ballotpedia, 021). He was later reelected into the position in 2014 after winning by 1% point. In November 2018, Scott won the Senatorial seat by 50.05 of the cast votes, defeating the Democrats’ Nelson, who gained 49.93% (Ballotpedia, 021). Scott is worth $255 million, with most of his family incomes coming from his past business endeavors and a successful political career.
Born in 1948 September 23rd, Alfred Lawson is an American politician representing Florida’s 5th congressional district in the US Representative. Lawson gained the seat in 2017 and represents the districts stretching between Jacksonville and Tallahassee (US Congress, 2021). The representative was born in Midway and completed his high school education in Havana Northside High School. Lawson was an outstanding athlete and participated in basketball, playing for Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University. He later earned his degree in the same university, graduating with a bachelor’s of political science. Lawson also exercised his basketball career at Atlanta Hawks and Indiana Pacers. After the end of his basketball career, Lawson became a basketball coach at Florida State University (US Congress, 2021). His first political encounters were in 2010 when he vied for the 2nd congressional district seat and lost to Allen Boyd. He also vied in 2012, losing to Steve Southerland. In the 2016 general elections, Lawson defeated the incumbent representative, Glo Smith, by 64% of the cast votes. In terms of policies, Lawson is interested in gun laws and the Yemen civil war. Lawson voted for schools and public entities to hold strong measures for preventing mass shootings (US Congress, 2021). He also supports gun restrictions, evident in his stance in the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act, 2017. Lawson had an estimated net worth of $8 million in 2018.
I am more interested in Marco Rubio because of his adventitious life and rise to American politics. Rubio also interests me because of his ambitions and determination in life. Despite having a humble background, Rubio has always been focused on becoming a national leader through his love for democracy. At only 34 years, Rubio had become the speaker in the Florida House of Representatives (Biography Newsletter, 2020). Having a Cuban origin, it was expected that Rubio would only serve in this capacity for a short period but served up to November 2008. I am also amazed by Rubio’s story because of how he delivered a powerful speech during his inauguration as the Florida House of Representatives speaker. In this event, Rubio required all the house members to check their desks, where they found a book, 100 Innovative Ideas for Florida’s Future (Biography Newsletter, 2020) . The book contained blank pages, and Rubio explained to the members that they needed the support of the Florida citizens in filling every section of the book. In essence, he stated that the prosperity of the state depended on the views of all its citizens rather than the views of one person or the house alone. This story encourages me because it helps me understand the importance of representative democracy. As a strong democratic advocate, Rubio wanted everyone’s voice to be heard in making crucial decisions regarding the state. This story can be crucial, not only in the Floridian or American context but also in the global context, because it can help in solving various governance issues.
I also like the way Rubio used his position as the speaker to advocate for democracy. In
completing his book, Rubio garnered the views of all the Florida citizens by traveling across the state. His leadership styles also depicted great political maturity and servant leadership. For instance, he focused on relinquishing other leaders and inviting his political rivals into his inner circle. Rubio’s 2015 decision to run for the presidency also interests me because it shows great determination in life (Biography Newsletter, 2020). In 2015 April, Rubio announced that he would run for the presidential seat. Having risen from House Representative’s position to a senator, Rubio had much determination, which enabled him to achieve all his goals. After failing the presidential preliminaries, Rubio did not give up on his political ambitions but instead sought reelection into the US Congress.
Rubio’s policies are influential in my perceptions of him. He supports climate change measures and balancing the federal budget. In essence, poor management of the national budget could be detrimental to the country’s economy. For instance, excessive expenditure on the defense ministry could deter progress in other departments. As a way of ensuring this status is not reached, Rubio advocates for the balancing of the federal budget to suit all the American needs. In terms of climate change, I like how Rubio openly condemns poor approaches to curb and dealing with climate change (Biography Newsletter, 2020). I also support Rubio because of his views on the issue of immigration. While he is not opposed to admitting immigrants, Rubio states that the country must secure its borders for effective sustainability.
References
Ballotpedia (2021). Rick Scott. https://ballotpedia.org/Rick_Scott
Biography Newsletter (2020). Marco Rubio. https://www.biography.com/political-figure/marco-rubio
US Congress (2021). Representative Al Lawson, Jr. https://www.congress.gov/member/al-lawson/L000586?searchResultViewType=expanded
Fontevecchia, A. (2016). The richest and poorest presidential candidates: From Hillary’s millions to Marco Rubio’s debts. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/afontevecchia/2015/09/29/the-richest-and-poorest-presidential-candidates-from-hillarys-millions-to-marco-rubios-debts/?sh=1048a9814dbd
