Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday came as close to the campaign trail as he’s been all year. And even then, he tried to stay just offshore.
Rubio appeared with President Donald Trump in Corpus Christi, Texas, as he rallied alongside an oil tanker carrying Venezuelan crude. The visit helped spotlight a proud White House accomplishment — toppling the Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro and opening the country’s energy supply — in a political battleground state.
The unexpected nature of Rubio’s presence, after the president coaxed him up on stage during the rally, is likely enough to shield the nation’s top diplomat from allegations that he is interfering in the midterm campaign. The former Florida senator has kept a careful distance from partisan politics, even as colleagues like Attorney General Todd Blanche have defied longstanding norms against some administration officials engaging in electioneering.
“It’s an honor to work for the greatest country in the world, for the greatest president in the history of the United States of America,” Rubio said in brief remarks from the stage. “We love you, Texas.”
A White House official, who like others in this article was granted anonymity to share details of the trip, said that Rubio was backstage during the rally when the president brought him up and that he was only there in his capacity as national security adviser, not to stump ahead of the midterms.
While Rubio, who was not expected to speak at the event, has maintained the tradition of secretaries of State not campaigning, Republicans have been clamoring for the potential 2028 presidential hopeful to do so, seeing him as one of the party’s strongest messengers in a bruising midterm cycle in which they have been desperate for any additional help. One GOP official in a state with a key Senate race, granted anonymity to share private conversations, said that they asked for Rubio to attend a recent political event but were told the secretary of State wasn’t doing political events given his role as chief diplomatic officer.
“Rubio is Trump’s best asset, and they know they are in a dog fight to win in Texas,” said Bill Cortese, a GOP operative who has advised Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.). Even if Rubio had not come up on stage, “news of Rubio simply being in the state could potentially boost the GOP’s chances in places that they need it.”
Plus, the secretary of State had another good reason for being there: Rubio was one of the central architects of the administration’s Venezuela strategy and has been a leading figure in managing the country’s political transition and economic arrangements with the U.S. in the wake of Maduro’s ouster.
“It’s his win and his deal,” a Trump administration official added about Rubio and the Venezuela link.
Asked why Rubio accompanied Trump on the Texas trip, the White House referred to one of Trump’s Truth Social posts from August in which he credited Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for negotiating the oil deal with Venezuela.
A State Department spokesperson noted Rubio’s role as national security adviser and said that he “needs time with the president on all kinds of issues. The president will be on the go, so being on the plane with him gives him a chance to talk to him about these items.”
The secretary of State notably skipped the Republican National Committee’s midterm convention in Dallas last month, opting instead to go on a diplomatic trip to Colombia.
“Marco loves campaigns and politics and he cares desperately about making sure that the House and Senate remain in Republican hands, but I think he also realizes that part of being secretary of State is you don’t engage in overt political activity,” said a person close to Rubio.
In Trump’s first term, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo broke with tradition and made a handful of public appearances that directly or indirectly appeared campaign related, including delivering remarks to the Republican National Convention in 2020.
On a practical level, most secretaries of State travel overseas so much that it’s hard to spare time for campaigns. But Rubio travels more infrequently than his predecessors, in part because of his national security adviser role, which keeps him at the White House.
And Rubio also has a more nontraditional role even as secretary of State, focusing most of his energy on Latin America while the president’s special envoys, including Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, have handled negotiations to try to end the wars in Iran, Ukraine and Gaza.
Yet the Texas visit — in which Trump sought to link one of his signature foreign policy accomplishments with efforts to reduce prices — came as a relief to the Republicans who believe Rubio is one of the party’s most trusted messengers on the economy and have for months wanted to see him on the trail.
Results from The POLITICO Poll suggest Rubio can be a useful surrogate on the campaign trail. Across three polls this month, Republican midterm voters consistently selected Rubio as their third-highest choice to hit the campaign trail to help their party, behind Trump and Vice President JD Vance but ahead of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and others.
Support for Rubio on the campaign trail is also fairly steady across Trump’s 2024 coalition, with only an 8-point gap between the MAGA base (31%) and non-MAGA Trump voters (23%) saying the secretary of State would help Republicans if he campaigned. Meanwhile, MAGA loyalists were significantly more likely than non-MAGA Trump voters to support Trump and Vance hitting the trail.
Notably, Rubio also generates less negative backlash than other figures. Democrats widely support the impeachment of Trump, Vance, Kennedy and others. But support for impeaching Rubio is lower than the other figures, pushing overall public opinion against impeachment.
“Marco Rubio is Republicans’ most valuable asset in this difficult environment. While he has broad support from the MAGA base, he also appeals to centrist voters and obviously to critical Hispanic voters. It makes sense that they would find a way to activate him,” said former Florida Rep. Carlos Curbelo.
Kimberly Leonard, Alex Gangitano and Seb Wride, chief pollster at PF Global, contributed to this report.
