TAMPA, Fla. — Marco Rubio was re-elected to the U.S. Senate over opponent Val Demings on Tuesday night.
Senator Rubio won his third straight general election after taking over the Senate seat from George LeMieux in 2010.
At the time of publication, Rubio beat Demings on Tuesday with a total of 3,927,939 votes over her 2,853,064 votes.
Rubio's background in politics dates back to the 1990s when he went from a city commissioner in West Miami to the Florida House. By age 34, Rubio had ascended to Speaker of the House in the Florida Legislature.
Rubio eventually left the legislature and began a fellowship at Florida International University as an adjunct professor. But the call of politics would be too strong for Rubio.
He decided to run for Senate and received support from the Republican Party, who slowly turned against then-Governor Charlie Crist. The former Governor would run without a party affiliation, which helped split the vote with Kendrick Meek, and Rubio was the beneficiary.
Rubio took office on January 3, 2011, and has held the seat ever since.
During his time in the Senate, Rubio has been vetted for the vice presidency at least once and voted for comprehensive immigration reform that included a path to citizenship, but later came out against it.
Senator Rubio is anti-abortion in nearly all cases. He's also been a member of the "Gang of Eight" that receives highly sensitive intelligence information.
Rubio will serve as Senator for six more years.
