(Tribune News Service) — President-elect Donald Trump plans to tap U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio as his secretary of state, making him the first Latino to helm the State Department, according to a source familiar with the plans.

Trump’s selection of Rubio, born in Miami to Cuban parents, is expected to assuage fears among GOP lawmakers seeking a continued U.S. presence abroad amid a lurch toward isolationism within the party.

His appointment is likely to sail through the confirmation process with the support of his colleagues in the Senate, where Republicans have won majority control.

A spokesperson for Rubio’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump had considered the three-term senator as his vice presidential running mate before choosing another senator, JD Vance of Ohio, instead. Rubio won the appointment over jockeying from several other prominent allies of the president-elect, including Vivek Ramaswamy, an entrepreneur, and Ric Grenell, Trump’s former U.S. ambassador to Germany, who emerged as a favorite of far-right firebrands who earlier this week cast Rubio as a “neocon” war hawk out of step with Trump’s Make America Great Again movement.

Currently serving as vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee and as a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, Rubio has kept focus like few others in Congress on U.S. policy toward Latin America, advocating harsh sanctions on dictatorial regimes in Cuba and Venezuela.

He has been a vocal critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his war against Ukraine, but also this week said the war had entered a “stalemate” and would need to end, echoing statements from the president-elect. And Rubio is an outspoken critic of the Chinese government and said this summer that Trump would continue supporting Taiwan against a potential invasion, penning legislation that would boost deterrence against a war in the Pacific.

In the Middle East, Rubio has consistently pressed for a maximum-pressure strategy against Iran and supported Trump’s decision to withdraw from an international agreement governing its nuclear program. And he has broadly backed Israel’s wars against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, rejecting accusations that Israeli forces have used excessive force in either conflict.

Rubio, a former Florida state House speaker, was first elected to the Senate in 2010. He ran against Trump for the Republican nomination for president in 2016. While he ultimately lost that contest, he won reelection to his Senate seat that year.

Rubio’s appointment to the State Department would allow Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to appoint a replacement until the next regularly scheduled federal election in 2026.

Trump’s selection of Rubio was first reported by the New York Times and Reuters.

Miami Herald staff writer Jacqueline Charles and El Nuevo Herald reporter Nora Gamez Torres contributed to this report. ©2024 McClatchy Washington Bureau.

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