A father wants his son’s job as Miami mayor — but their family ties aren’t a focus
As the Nov. 4 election quickly approaches, prominent politicians like Gov. Ron DeSantis and Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava are publicly backing candidates for Miami mayor.
But what about outgoing Mayor Francis Suarez, whose father, Xavier Suarez, is vying to succeed him?
It’s complicated. In a recent interview with the Miami Herald, Francis Suarez described himself as supporting his dad, but from a distance, saying “I get involved to the extent that my dad asks me to get involved.”
“He hasn’t really asked me to endorse him, and I don’t think he needs me necessarily to endorse him,” Francis Suarez said. “Everybody knows he’s my father, and obviously I support him.”
That support included extensive preparation ahead of a mayoral debate last week. Xavier Suarez told the Herald his son practiced questions with him and gave him several pointers, like advising him not to mention French political philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville in his 60-second opening statement. Xavier ignored that advice, a decision he later regretted.
“He was right,” Xavier said of Francis.
Francis Suarez said he did not attend the debate, hosted by CBS Miami and the Downtown Neighbors Alliance, due to a prior commitment with the Brickell Run Club that evening. But Xavier Suarez said Francis was the first person he called afterward for a debrief.
“He commented at length on his view of how it went,” Xavier Suarez said of his son.
Xavier Suarez made Miami history 40 years ago when he became the city’s first Cuban-born mayor in 1985. He was reelected to a two-year term in 1987 and a four-year term in 1989. Then in 1997, Suarez initially defeated the incumbent, Joe Carollo. But the election was overturned because of ballot fraud, and Carollo was declared the winner the following year.
Xavier Suarez said Francis, then 20, “was my main companion” in the 1997 race but that the dynamics have shifted since then: “Now it’s kind of my turn to learn from him.”
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‘Not happy with the options’
Francis Suarez, who is termed out of office after eight years as mayor, said that, generally speaking, he’s “not thrilled” with the candidates vying to succeed him. Thirteen people have qualified to run for mayor, including Carollo, Miami-Dade County Commissioner Eileen Higgins and former City Manager Emilio González.
“We can go one by one, but I am not very, very happy with who is running in November,” Francis Suarez said. “And I sort of wish that, you know, that there was somebody there that — my father excluded from that conversation, because I’m obviously not gonna, I’m not gonna express any sort of negative opinion on that.”
The mayor trailed off for a second before adding: “I’m not happy with the options that our residents have.”
As a point of comparison, Francis Suarez said he was “wholeheartedly behind a commission candidate just a few months ago” — referring to Ralph Rosado, who was elected to the City Commission in a June special election. Francis Suarez’s political committee, Miami for Everyone, gave about $1 million to Rosado’s campaign.
“I invested a million dollars in the effort to get him elected,” Francis Suarez said of Rosado. “So if I am passionate about somebody’s trajectory, their background, their vision, I would be more than happy to do that. But, you know, unfortunately, obviously aside from my father, I don’t find anybody there that I’m motivated to be excited about.”
Xavier Suarez said Francis has not contributed to his campaign.
While spending on Rosado’s campaign took a substantial chunk out of Francis Suarez’s PAC, it still had about $180,000 remaining as of June 30, according to the latest campaign finance reports.
Divided on election date change
If Xavier Suarez was hoping to have full-throated support from his son in his latest bid for mayor, he didn’t start off on the best foot.
The elder Suarez filed to run for mayor hours after a trial court judge delivered bad news for a key initiative backed by Francis Suarez. The ruling found the city’s ordinance postponing the fall election to 2026 without voter approval to be unconstitutional.
The ruling dealt a major blow to the mayor, who was a champion of the city’s effort to switch from odd- to even-year elections. The change would have also given him another year in office despite the fact that he was term-limited.
Xavier Suarez, on the other hand, opposed the ordinance, although he said he initially wasn’t aware of his son’s involvement in the measure. In the early summer, Francis Suarez was quietly lobbying behind the scenes in favor of the change, although it was Commissioner Damian Pardo who was the official sponsor of it.
Xavier Suarez declined to say whether his decision to file his candidate paperwork immediately after the trial court ruling — which the city went on to appeal — put a strain on the relationship with his son.
“I really don’t want to comment on that,” he said. Francis Suarez also declined to comment on the timing of his dad’s filing.
But by the late summer, Xavier Suarez said his son became “very supportive” of his campaign, once the city formally ended its appeals.
While the mayor has stopped short of officially endorsing his father, he said it’s “safe to say” that he’ll be voting for him.
“He’s my dad, so I’m always supportive of him and whatever he does, and I’m hopeful for him,” Francis Suarez said, adding: “I’m much more concerned about my relationship with him as a son and a father.”
This story was originally published October 8, 2025 at 2:50 PM.
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