Sen, Marco Rubio, R-Fla., plans to announce his candidacy for president on April 13 in Miami, two Republican sources said Saturday.
That could make Rubio the third Republican senator to enter his party’s presidential nomination contest. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas last week became the first declared candidate, and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky is expected to announce his plans April 7 in Louisville.
Rubio, 43, is also expected to compete with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who is in the midst of a fundraising blitz that could collect $100 million in the first three months of the year. Bush said this month that he might not announce his campaign until the summer.
In Bush, a son and brother of former presidents, Rubio faces a towering figure in Florida politics. The men live a few miles apart in Miami. Rubio has said his friendship with Bush wouldn’t dissuade him from running himself.
Rubio would become one of the youngest candidates in the field. He is regarded as a top Republican communicator, capable of captivating large audiences and interacting with small crowds in the type of town-hall settings that are important in the first two states to hold presidential nominating contests, Iowa and New Hampshire.
His stock dropped in 2013 after he co-authored a Senate bill proposing to overhaul immigration policy. The measure passed in the chamber with bipartisan support, but was anathema to the Republican Party’s conservative base and was never considered in the GOP-controlled House.
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