--- description: Find out why Marco Rubio is one of the 100 most influential people of 2026. title: Marco Rubio: The 100 Most Influential People of 2026 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf01935e043696708/69dfb5138355202ca65b1698/T100-2026-Web-Marco-Rubio-234.png?branch=production --- Apr 15, 2026 # Marco Rubio by [Philip Elliott](/author/philip-elliott/) ## Philip Elliott Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent  Branislav Racko—IMAGO/Reuters Once a fierce rival to and bitter critic of Donald Trump, Marco Rubio has settled into two of the most consequential jobs in Washington: a double billing as Secretary of State and National Security Adviser, a power monopoly held only once before, by Henry Kissinger. It has the former Senator from Florida at the center of some of the biggest moves of Trump’s second term, including the capture of Venezuela’s leader, the massive joint military assault on [Iran](https://time.com/7382385/iran-war-congress-marco-rubio-rationale/ "undefined"), and the ongoing machinations around the pursuit of peace in Ukraine and the Middle East, as well as dicey diplomatic talks over tariffs, immigration, and even Greenland. The nimble shift from Trump critic to the executor of Trump’s foreign policy has repaired Rubio’s relationship with the MAGA base and puts him in position to possibly inherit the Trumpist movement in 2028\. Yet it also comes with risks: he owns the [Trump record](https://time.com/article/2026/04/07/Iran-war-Trump-MAGA-youth-vote-midterm/ "undefined") now in a way that could one day prove problematic. Betting on Trump’s instincts is as high risk as it might be high reward. _Elliott is a TIME senior correspondent_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people/2026/marco-rubio/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people/2026/marco-rubio/"},"headline":"Marco Rubio","datePublished":"2026-04-15T11:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-07-21T07:21:53.119Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people/2026/marco-rubio/","keywords":["TIME 100","list","franchise","Accolades"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf01935e043696708/69dfb5138355202ca65b1698/T100-2026-Web-Marco-Rubio-234.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Philip Elliott","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/philip-elliott/"}],"creator":"Philip Elliott","articleSection":"TIME100","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf01935e043696708/69dfb5138355202ca65b1698/T100-2026-Web-Marco-Rubio-234.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/time100/","name":"TIME100"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-100/","name":"TIME 100"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people/2026/marco-rubio/","name":"Marco Rubio"}}]}] ```