Miami Mayor Suarez is in GOP presidential race: ‘Unity is more powerful than division’
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez’s entry to the 2024 Republican presidential primary left many wondering how he would carve out a place in a crowded GOP field that includes two other heavyweight candidates from Florida.
Thursday night, he signaled what his path could be during his first public speech since officially launching his campaign: He’s taking the Ronald Reagan lane, as a Cuban-American with family who faced oppression under the island communist regime, a youthful politician who started in politics by asking Miamians to vote for his papi when his father ran for mayor, and a leader who sees his city as a “thriving city on a hill.”
“I believe America is still a shining city on a hill, whose eyes of the world are upon us, and whose promise needs to be restored,” he told an audience of a few hundred at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California. Sitting in the front row was his father, Xavier Suarez, Miami’s first Cuban-born mayor. “And I believe this city needs more than a fighter or a shouter. I believe it needs a servant. I believe it needs a mayor.”
The message fit the venue, as he stood in the shadow of the plane that served as Reagan’s Air Force One, mounted in a hangar-like room with a sweeping view of the Simi Valley. Miami’s mayor is dreaming big with his White House bid, and on Thursday, he focused on the sweetness of the moment rather than outlining how he’s different from his opponents — except for President Joe Biden, who Suarez blamed for allowing crime to increase in American cities.
“We need a strong leader who shares America’s values, who understands that unity is more powerful than division,” the mayor said.
A rocky period back in Miami
Suarez, a 45-year-old attorney and private-equity executive, smiled wide on a stage more than 2,000 miles away from Miami’s glam — and its underbelly. City Hall has been marked by series of recent controversies, including an FBI investigation into Suarez’s private consulting work for a developer who needed help with a city permit.
State and local authorities are investigating his private consulting work for a developer who sought City Hall approvals for a Coconut Grove real estate project. Suarez was paid $170,000 in the last two years by Rishi Kapoor, CEO of real estate Location Ventures, and internal company documents indicate Suarez was asked to help push along permits for Kapoor’s URBIN project in the center of the Grove’s business district.
Read more: Miami official rejected plans by a developer paying Suarez. Then the mayor’s aide called
Suarez has denied wrongdoing and said he welcomes the investigation. The mayor has for years declined to share his client list or detail his private work outside City Hall. The legal and ethical questions about his work for Kapoor prompted him to recently say on national television that he would release his tax returns if he ran for president.
When asked on Thursday when he would release those documents, he demurred.
“When I have to,” he said, as he exited the hall. There is no legal requirement for presidential candidates to release their tax returns, so the release date is up to to the mayor, but he is required to soon file detailed financial disclosures with the Federal Election Commission.
Suarez has previously vowed to ignore “the haters” and focus on the positives, a disposition noted in the introduction to Thursday’s speech.
“True to his Sunshine State roots, this former president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors leads with a healthy dose of sunny optimism,” said David Trulio, president and CEO of the Reagan Presidential Library.
Miami’s elected ambassador
Suarez is in his second term as Miami’s mayor, a position with few legislative powers and limited administrative responsibility. He previously served eight years as a city commissioner. During his time in office, he has sponsored initiatives to create savings accounts for underprivileged public school students, steered public dollars to scholarships and tech education programs and helped negotiate legal settlements that helped the city avoid potentially costly judgments.
For more than a year, the mayor teased a presidential run while courting national media, growing his national profile as he promoted Miami as a business-friendly tech capital that embraced cryptocurrency, even as the fever over crypto cooled amid dips in value for several tokens.
He’s entered a packed GOP field that includes two other top candidates from Florida: former President Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis. Most polls show Trump well ahead of DeSantis and several other candidates, including former Vice President Mike Pence and former United Nations Ambassador and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley.
Thursday evening, the mayor was greeted warmly by a mix of Miamians who crossed the country for the event and West Coast voters who ranged from curious to enthusiastic when asked about a Suarez presidency. His distance behind his primary opponents was obvious, but not fatal.
“I don’t think he has much of a shot for president,” said Connie Tushla, who drove about an hour from her home in Santa Paula for the speech. But she was intrigued with Suarez after seeing him on national TV in recent years, promoting Miami’s low crime rate and calling for businesses to move to the Magic City.
She said she hopes that when Suarez gets more specific on policy plans, he’ll take aim at “wokeness” that she said is hurting California’s culture.
“I hope Suarez wants to move away from wokeness, similar to Ron DeSantis, although I think he’s taken it a little bit too far,” Tushla said.
Some Californians who attended said they hoped Suarez would address their economic worries.
“We’re concerned about inflation. We’re concerned about gas prices,” said Carmelo Cuellar, 35. He said he lived in Miami for a few years when Suarez was first elected mayor, and he was particularly interested in Suarez’s acknowledgment that climate change is a pressing issue that needs to be addressed by government.
The mayor kept his remarks general, calling for immigration reform, a strong economy that prevents China from becoming the dominant world superpower, and an anti-socialist foreign policy rooted in preventing the rise of leftist governments in the Western Hemisphere.
Before Suarez took the stage, friend and political commentator Carlos Curbelo chatted with guests and members of Suarez’s political team. The former congressman has advised Suarez on and off in recent years, and he gave a simple answer when asked which lane Suarez would occupy on the path to the GOP nomination.
“The shoulder,” Curbelo said. “The shoulder is better because there’s so much congestion in the race.”
This story was originally published June 15, 2023 at 9:39 PM.
