House GOP leader meets with Miami’s mayor ahead of Florida sit-down with Trump
Reportedly in South Florida to raise money and meet with former President Donald Trump, U.S. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy made a surprise swing through Miami this week to sit down with Republican Mayor Francis Suarez to talk tech startups and big government.
The tête-à-tête was not related to political recruiting, according to people familiar with the get-together. Despite the looming process to redraw the lines of congressional districts, McCarthy isn’t likely in need of Miami-Dade candidates for the 2022 election cycle given that Republicans just flipped two congressional seats in the county from blue to red.
Rather, Suarez said McCarthy, a California Republican, reached out “unprompted” to talk about the mayor’s efforts to lure startups to Miami — many from his home state. On Thursday, a Suarez spokesperson said McCarthy had messaged the mayor on Twitter to let him know he would be in Miami and wanted to meet. The two sat down for about 17 minutes and filmed an episode of Suarez’s YouTube show “Cafecito Talk” at his second floor office in City Hall.
“What you’re doing is tremendous for Miami. But what you’re doing is also, hopefully, going to make California better,” said McCarthy, who hails from Bakersfield, just north of Los Angeles.
The meeting — which McCarthy included in his morning newsletter to House members and staff on Thursday — was another minor coup for Suarez, a first-term mayor in a reelection year. Suarez’s efforts to recruit tech startups to Miami have generated weeks of national coverage and escalated into an ongoing flirtation with The Boring Company’s Elon Musk about digging tunnels under the city to alleviate traffic.
“Just the fact that someone like you, who is a national figure — an international figure — would take notice of it and take the time to come here, leader, it’s just a tremendous honor,” Suarez said to McCarthy.
Miami Herald reporter Joey Flechas contributed to this report.
This story was originally published January 28, 2021 at 2:44 PM.
