Miami, April 14 (RHC)-- Republican Senator Marco Rubio has entered the presidential race set to be held in the United States in January 2016. The junior U.S. senator from Florida -- and a defender of right-wing causes in the Cuban-American community of Miami -- announced his bid for the presidency in a conference call on his top donors on Monday.

Rubio told his supporters that he felt "uniquely qualified" for the position. "We've reached a moment now, not just in my career, but the history of our country, where I believe that it needs a Republican Party that is new and vibrant, that understands the future, has an agenda for that future," Rubio said, "and I feel uniquely qualified to offer that. And that's why I'm running for president."

The 43-year-old is the third Republican to join the race after Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, and is also supported by the Tea Party. "With Marco Rubio's formal entry into the campaign, there is one more strong voice advancing the cause of freedom," said Jenny Beth Martin, co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots.

Late on Sunday, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also announced that she is running for president in a video on her campaign website, officially launching a vigorous effort to secure the Democratic nomination for the 2016 vote.