MIAMI, FLORIDA — Miami Mayor Francis Suarez has joined the race for the White House in 2024.
The mayor filed his official paperwork on Wednesday following months of speculation as to whether or not he would throw his hat in the ring. He becomes the third Republican in Florida to enter the crowded GOP field, joining front-runners Governor Ron DeSantis and former President Donald Trump.
“AN IMPORTANT STORY TO TELL”
Suarez, 45, made clear his campaign strategy in an interview with NBC 6 earlier this week.
“We feel that we have an incredibly important story to tell being the only Hispanic candidate from both parties, being someone who is a mayor and who is a young Republican,” he said.
Suarez was elected mayor in 2017 and reelected in 2021. Prior to that he was a member of the Miami City Commission from 2009 – 2017. Suarez’s father Xavier served as the city’s first Cuban-born mayor from 1985 – 1993.
Super PAC SOS America has already begun running ads for Suarez, contrasting the metropolitan mayor’s pro-police policies with rising crime rates plaguing President Joe Biden in his first term.
“America needs conservative Mayor Francis Suarez for President,” SOS America PAC spokesperson Chapin Fay said. “As our nation faces anti-police and pro-crime Democrat leadership in cities across the nation like Baltimore, Portland and New York City, the achievements of first-generation American Mayor Suarez underscore the need for immediate nationwide adoption of his approach.”
SUAREZ: PRESIDENT OR VICE PRESIDENT?
While Suarez is considered a long-shot for the Republican nomination, some have suggested he should be viewed as a serious candidate for Vice President.
“I’ve not been shy about telling President Trump that Suarez should be on the shortlist for VP should Trump be the nominee,” Kellyanne Conway told Politico in May.
Ironically, Suarez received criticism for not voting for Trump in 2016 or 2020. He also has admitted that he did not vote for DeSantis in 2018, but supported the governor for reelection in 2022.
The Miami mayor is currently under investigation for a possible ethics violation. On May 24, the Miami Herald reported Suarez may have received over $170,000 from a local real estate firm to help fast-track a developer’s multimillion-dollar project.
“That doesn’t concern me. It really is in some ways a preview of what’s to come in terms of the scrutiny you are under,” he told NBC 6 about the investigation. “You have to accept that scrutiny.”
There are currently 13 declared Republican candidates in the race, including: Trump, DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-SC), conservative talk show host Larry Elder, former biotech executive Vivek Ramaswamy, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, Michigan businessman Perry Johnson and Dallas businessman and pastor Ryan Binkley.
