On top of his two mortgages, Rubio, who makes $174,000 as a Senator, is paying off a home equity loan and a student loan. It’s an unusual position in a legislative body that has become often known as a “millionaires club,” and has left him subject to suggestions in the Florida press that he’s mixed politics with his personal finances.

It also, his aides say, puts him in touch with the struggles of average Americans who find their cast of ultra-wealthy politicians a bit hard to take.

“He’s seen them first hand — he’s right in it,” Rubio spokesman Alex Conant told BuzzFeed. “Houses on his block have been foreclosed on, bringing down his own home value.”

Rubio has even faced foreclosure. In June 2010 Deutsche Bank filed to foreclose on the home co-owned by Rubio and Rep. David Rivera after they failed to make payments for five months. They provided the bank’s attorney with a check for the delinquent payments the day after the foreclosure notice, with the delay termed a “misunderstanding” between the men.