Suarez didn’t make the presidential debate. Will he follow his own advice and drop out?
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez won’t be onstage Wednesday night for the first Republican presidential primary debate — a potentially fatal setback to a fledgling campaign that just days ago claimed he’d qualified to participate.
Suarez, who before launching his campaign pointed to the debate as an early make-or-break moment, failed to meet the Republican National Committee’s benchmarks to qualify for the event, despite a series of gimmicks and gambits to boost his standing in the GOP field.
To meet the RNC’s 40,000-donor threshold, he raffled off tickets to see Lionel Messi’s MLS debut and offered $20 gift cards in exchange for $1 campaign contributions. He accepted donations in Bitcoin and suggested to Politico he might do a political ad while shirtless.
And when it looked like he wouldn’t meet the RNC’s meager requirement that candidates register at least 1% support in viable polls, he announced in a video that he had, in fact, qualified to make the debate.
He was wrong.
When the RNC released its list on Monday night of candidates who would be on the debate stage in Milwaukee, Suarez was conspicuously missing, raising the question of whether Miami’s mayor would follow his own advice: that candidates who couldn’t muster the support to make the debate should drop out.
Read more: RNC advisers shoot down Suarez’s claim he qualified for the GOP debate in Milwaukee
For 16 hours, Suarez remained publicly silent. Tuesday afternoon, he released a statement on social media where he said that polls he believed would help him qualify were not accepted by the RNC.
“I respect the rules and process set forth by the RNC, and I look forward to working with my party to ensure we win back the White House and restore the path to a brighter future for our country,” wrote Suarez, who had previously complained that pollsters were leaving him out of their surveys.
He did not address whether he would end his campaign. Attempts to reach his spokeswoman were unsuccessful.
While the mayor had hoped that making the debate stage would amplify his message, missing the event also brought him attention, though not necessarily the kind he wanted.
On Tuesday,
U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, blasted Suarez for keeping a post pinned to the top his profile on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, that featured a picture of the mayor with the phrase “See you in Milwaukee!”
“Imagine how low a candidate’s self awareness must be to post this, and keep it pinned, when they didn’t make the debate,” Gaetz wrote in this post.
Hours later, Suarez’s post was deleted. So was his video announcing that he had made the debate.
Former Republican Congressman Carlos Curbelo, who has been a political consultant for Suarez in the past, told the Herald that it was unfortunate that the RNC decided that Suarez hadn’t met muster. He said a distinctive voice will be missing from the debate.
“I think the RNC will miss out on a unique perspective and voice given that he was the only Hispanic candidate and the only successful big city mayor in the race,” he said.
Another consultant, Mike Hernández, said the campaign has been marred by mistakes from the beginning, from a late launch in June to political baggage that carried over from the mayor’s previous stances.
Hernández, a political analyst for NBC and Telemundo, said Suarez’s votes against president Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020 has likely hurt him, as has his decision to vote for Gov. Ron DeSantis’ gubernatorial opponent in 2018.
Polls show Trump, who has said he is skipping Wednesday’s debate, as the clear front-runner for the GOP nomination. DeSantis is in a distant second place.
Read more: Suarez’s VIP appearances at F1, World Cup spark complaint to state ethics commission
Hernández said Suarez’s message, which focused on Miami’s low crime, low taxes and a business-friendly brand he’s worked to burnish, might have had a chance to resonate with voters. But he said local controversies didn’t help the mayor either.
Suarez, for instance, entered the race days after the Miami Herald reported that the FBI was investigating his business relationship with beleaguered real estate developer Rishi Kapoor. The developer paid the mayor $170,000 in consulting fees while seeking City Hall approvals to overcome a significant permitting hurdle that threatened the viability of $70 million Coconut Grove development.
“There are a couple of efforts working against him,” Hernández said. “The city of Miami has its own political drama, and you’re the mayor of it. There’s no escaping that.”
This story was originally published August 22, 2023 at 6:56 AM.
