U.S. Senator Rubio to Announce Political Future April 13

U.S. Senator Marco Rubio said Monday he plans to announce next month whether he will make a 2016 bid for the White House.

"I will announce on April 13th what I'm going to do next in terms of running for president or the U.S. Senate," Rubio, a first-term Republican lawmaker from Florida, told Fox News.

The Miami Herald reported earlier that the announcement would take place at Miami's Freedom Tower, known as the "Ellis Island of the South," where U.S. officials processed Cuban refugees from 1962 to 1974. 

Rubio said the event's location had yet to be confirmed.

The 43-year-old has taken several steps in line with those of a potential presidential candidate.

He has formed a political action committee that is raising money, he recently wrote a book on "restoring economic opportunity for everyone" and he has spent considerable time touring early-voting states like Iowa and New Hampshire.

Rubio is up for re-election in 2016, and he cannot run for president and for the Senate at the same time.

His event will come six days after what is widely expected to be Republican rival Rand Paul's presidential launch.

The libertarian-leaning, first-term senator has scheduled a major speech on April 7, in his home state of Kentucky, that kicks off of an extended tour to early-voting states.

Tea-Party backed conservative Senator Ted Cruz formally unveiled his presidential bid last week, in what is expected to be a crowded and wide-open horse race for the Republican nomination.

Jeb Bush, the son and brother of two former presidents, is actively exploring a bid and is widely predicted to enter the race.

With Bush a former Florida governor and Rubio a favorite son of the Sunshine State, their rivalry could split valuable funding and backing from major donors -- something Rubio dismissed early in a potential showdown.

"The time will come for comparison shopping for voters and others," Rubio told Fox.

"I would just say that I strongly believe that the future of this country will depend on the next election."

With severe jockeying already evident on the Republican side, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton is sucking up the oxygen among Democrats.

Experts and polls suggest she would be the prohibitive favorite should she enter the race to succeed President Barack Obama.