The city of West Miami looked back at one of its former commissioners to recall where the electoral journey of Marco Rubio, the current Secretary of State of the United States, began.
In a post shared as part of the Hispanic Heritage Month, the city shared a photograph of Rubio when he was part of the municipal Commission and highlighted that his career in elected public service “began right here in West Miami”.
"Before serving at the state and national level, Marco Rubio's career in elected public service began right here in West Miami, where he served on the City Commission from 1998 to 2000," the city noted in its official Facebook post.
The message is part of “Rooted in West Miami”, an initiative through which the municipality is recovering stories of people connected to the city and moments from their lives that took place there during Hispanic Heritage Month.
"Rooted in West Miami looks towards the people whose stories have a connection to our small city and the chapters of their lives that were written here," explained the municipal government.
Marco Rubio served as commissioner of West Miami from 1998 to 2000
The information accompanying the photograph is also supported by the municipal archives themselves.
Official documents from West Miami from the late 1990s identify Rubio as city commissioner, the first elected position in a career that soon transitioned to state politics.
An ordinance approved by West Miami in February 1999, for example, includes "Commissioner Marco Rubio" among the members of the City Commission.
The photograph now shared by the city shows exactly that stage: a young Rubio sitting behind the municipal podium, in front of a microphone, with the Florida seal in the background.
The leap into Florida politics
Rubio left the West Miami Commission in 2000 to join the Florida House of Representatives.
The official record of the State House indicates that he was elected on January 25, 2000, to represent District 111 of Miami-Dade.
His official profile explicitly mentions his previous service as commissioner of West Miami and notes that he served as the Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives between 2006 and 2008.
From the Senate to the State Department
A decade after arriving in Tallahassee, Rubio was elected to the United States Senate from Florida and took office in January 2011.
He remained in the Senate until January 2025, when he was nominated by President Donald Trump to lead the Department of State.
On January 20 of that year, the Senate confirmed his nomination as Secretary of State with 99 votes in favor and none against.
CiberCuba reported then on Rubio's confirmation, which marked his departure from the Senate and his joining the U.S. cabinet.
Rubio took office as the 72nd Secretary of State of the United States, marking the culmination of a public career that began nearly three decades earlier on a municipal commission in South Florida.
"Rooted in West Miami"
The city's publication does not focus on political debates or on Rubio's current decisions at the helm of U.S. diplomacy.
The focus is local and historical: remember that before holding state and federal positions, his electoral career began in a small city in Miami-Dade.
"From one generation to the next, West Miami continues to be a place where generations grow," concludes the municipal message, using the slogan Where Generations Grow.
The comparison between that photograph from the late 90s and her current image summarizes the journey: from a seat on the West Miami Commission to the highest diplomatic position in the U.S. government.
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