Francis Suarez | |
|---|---|
 Suarez in 2023 | |
| 43rdMayor of Miami | |
| In office November 15, 2017 – December 18, 2025 | |
| Preceded by | Tomás Regalado |
| Succeeded by | Eileen Higgins |
| 80th President of theUnited States Conference of Mayors | |
| In office January 2022 – June 2023 | |
| Preceded by | Nan Whaley |
| Succeeded by | Hillary Schieve |
| Member of theMiami City Commission from the 4th district | |
| In office November 25, 2009 – November 15, 2017 | |
| Preceded by | Tomás Regalado |
| Succeeded by | Manolo Reyes |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Francis Xavier Suarez (1977-10-06)October 6, 1977 (age 48) |
| Party | Republican |
| Spouse | Gloria Fonts |
| Children | 2 |
| Relatives | Xavier Suarez (father) Alex Mooney (first cousin) |
| Education | Florida International University (BBA) University of Florida (JD) |
Francis Xavier Suarez (/swɑːˈrɛz/SWAH-rez; born October 6, 1977) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 43rdmayor of Miami from 2017 to 2025. A member of theRepublican Party, he previously served as a member of theMiami City Commission from 2009 to 2017. He is the son of former Miami mayorXavier Suarez.
Suarez is a graduate ofFlorida International University (FIU), where he earned a bachelor's degree in finance. After that he earned aJ.D. from theUniversity of Florida in 2004. He was first elected to represent the 4th district in the Miami City Commission in 2009 and was reelected in 2011 and 2015. He served until 2017 when he waselected mayor of Miami. He wasre-elected in 2021. During his mayoralty, Suarez has been noted for his advocacy forcryptocurrency.
Suarez was a candidate in the2024 Republican Party presidential primaries, but withdrew from the race after he failed to qualify for the firstprimary debate.
The oldest of four siblings, Suarez is the son of Rita andXavier Suarez, two-timeMiami mayor. His aunt, Lala, is the mother of U.S. CongressmanAlex Mooney from West Virginia.[1]
Suarez attendedImmaculata-LaSalle High School. He graduated in 1996 and went on to graduate in the top 10% of his class fromFlorida International University (FIU) with a bachelor's degree in finance. Following college, Suarez chose to attend theUniversity of FloridaFredric G. Levin College of Law, receiving hisJ.D. degreecum laude in 2004.[2][better source needed]
After law school, Suarez became an attorney with the law firm Greenspoon Marder, specializing in corporate and real estate transactions.[2]
In 2021 Suarez joined the newly established Miami office ofQuinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan.[3][4] His mayoralty is a part-time job due to its limited duties and powers.[3] On July 1, 2023, due to his ongoing presidential candidacy, Suarez went on unpaid leave from the firm.[5]
Suarez's father,Xavier Suarez, served as mayor of Miami in the 1990s.[6]
Before serving in the city government, Suarez first served on his localhomeowner association. Suarez cited a home burglary that he had suffered as his motivation for getting involved.[7]
Suarez was first elected to theMiami City Commission's District 4 seat in 2009. in aspecial election to replaceTomás Regalado who had resigned in order to become mayor. The initial round of the election was held was on November 3, 2009. Suarez advanced to arunoff election againstManolo Reyes after receiving 44.74 percent of the vote in the initial round, with Reyes receiving 40.50 percent, Denis Rod receiving 5.15 percent and Oscar Rodriguez-Fonts receiving 9.61 percent.[8] District 4 represented portions of the city's westernmost reaches.[7] The runoff election was on 17 November 2009. Suarez won with 51.41 percent of the vote. He was reelected unopposed in both 2011 and 2015.[9]
In January 2013 theMiami Herald wrote that in his first three years on the City Commission "Suarez has had mixed results passing policy." Suarez introduced a controversial motion that was passed by the City Commission, resulting in a decrease to city employees salaries. He also was an advocate for changes that were made to thezoning code of the city aimed at easing the ability to constructaffordable housing. However, Suarez was unsuccessful in a push to move the city from using aweak mayor form of government to adopting astrong mayor form of government.[7]
Suarez was initially a close ally of Mayor Regaldo. In late 2011, Regaldo asked Suarez to hold the chairmanship of the City Commission. After Regaldo was at odds with Police Chief Miguel Exposito, Suarez introduced a controversial motion to fire Exposito, which was passed by the City Commission. However, in mid-2012 Suarez became critical of Regaldo's leadership, attacking high turnover among Regaldo's staff and questioning the finance department's ability to balance the city's budget on time.[7] Suarez even came to criticize Regaldo's feud with former police chief Exposito.[10] Suarez ultimately announced a campaign to unseat Regaldo in the 2013 mayoral election.[7]
Suarez was an opponent ofred light cameras in the city, which had become a controversial issue in Miami.[11]
Suarez was widely anticipated to challenge incumbent Miami mayor Tomás Regaldo in the November 2013 mayoral election. In anticipation of his campaign, Suarez fundraised significantly at the end of 2012, with his "political communications organization" raising $460,000. This eclipsed the $160,000 that Regaldo had raised for his reelection by the end of 2012. Contributors to Suarez includedJackson Health System CEO and former Miamicity manager Carlos A. Migoya as well as former Miami mayorManny Diaz.[7]
On January 15, 2013, Suarez officially announced his candidacy in a press conference he held outside of his personal resident in theCoral Gate neighborhood.[7] Suarez's father attended the press conference and supported Suarez's candidacy.[10] Suarez stated that, if elected, he would provide the city with "forward-thinking and innovative" governance. Suarez declared his campaign platform would focus on increasing the city's emergency financial reserves, helpingsmall businesses, strengthenthe city's police department, and elevating the city's national prominence. Upon the launch of Suarez's campaign, political analysts predicted a competitive election. Despite his strong fundraising and support from prominent political players, Suarez was regarded to be theunderdog due to Regaldo's popularity with likely voters. Suarez being the scion of a former mayor was regarded as both a boon and a potential liability, as voter sentiments on his father's tenures as mayor varied, with his father having both a strong fan base but also carrying negative baggage with other voters. Suarez's age (thirty years Regaldo's junior) was seen as a likely liability to his candidacy, opening him up to accusations of inexperience. However, Suarez claimed his candidacy provided, "an opportunity for our generation to take a leadership role in the community."[7]
For his campaign, Suarez hired experienced local political consultants, a media firm based inWashington, D.C., as well as aVirginia-basedpollster. However, the primary actors in Suarez's campaign operation were relatives of his, including his cousin Steve Suarez, who served as hiscampaign manager.[12]
Suarez's candidacy garnered the support of fellow Miami city commissioners Marc Sarnon, Michelle Spence-Jones, andWilly Gort.[13]
Suarez's candidacy was rocked by controversies regarding the conduct of staffers. Two staffers became the subject of criminal investigations for forging signatures of acquaintances onabsentee ballot request forms. Another staffer submitted twenty online absentee ballot requests in violation of Florida law, which dictated that online requests could only be made by the voter or a member of their immediate family. Suarez's father was accused of possibly attempting to influence awitness in the investigations when he reached out byemail one of the voters for whom a ballot request had been illegally submitted. These scandals led to both this staffer and the campaign manager (Steve Suarez) each pleading guilty tomisdemeanors resulting inprobation.[12] These scandals ultimately led Suarez to end his campaign on August 26, 2013.[12][14] In ending his candidacy, Suarez cited several factors including "mistakes" made by his campaign team.[12]
Suarez was elected mayor of Miami in the2017 election.[15] TheMiami Herald noted that his candidacy benefited from a strong effort to motivate voters to cast absentee ballots for him.[16] Suarez is Miami's first local-born mayor.[17] He is also the first mayor to not be born inCuba since 1996, when mayorStephen P. Clark died in office.[citation needed] Suarez was re-elected in the2021 Miami mayoral election, receiving over 78% of the vote in the first ballot.[18]
Miami has a weak mayor system under which the mayor holds little authority,[19] The city's mayoralty is a part-time position and does not have power over the city's administration. Its limited powers include aveto over city commission legislation and the ability to declare emergencies.[20] The mayor's signature is not necessary for measures adopted by the commission to be enacted. Legislation is automatically ratified ten days afte adoption by the commission if the mayor does not act to veto it.[21] The mayor of Miami can also hire and fire thecity manager who runs Miami's government, though the city commissioners have the ability to overrule a mayor's choice.[20] While he has limited statutory power, Douglas Hanks of theMiami Herald noted in June 2023 that Suarez has managed to position himself as, "the most high-profile figure" in Miami's city government.[22]
%2c_and_Francis_Suarez_(mayor_of_Miami%2c_Florida)_at_a_January_20%2c_2023%2c_U.S._Conference_of_Mayors_event_in_the_East_Room_of_the_White_House_(52644933756).jpg)
In June 2020, Suarez was elected by American mayors to serve as the second vice president of theUnited States Conference of Mayors[23] and in June 2021, he was elected as the first vice president of the organization.[24] From June 2022 to June 2023, he served as the president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.[25]
Suarez was included inFortune magazine's 2021 list of the "World's 50 Greatest Leaders".[26]
As mayor, Suarez once again pushed to transition the city to a strong mayor system. A November 2018 municipalreferendum was held on aballot measure that would have changed the mayor's authority, with a heavy majority of voters rejecting such a change.[27] The adoption of the ballot measure, which would have led to the mayor having power over city administration (including power over staffing offices that administer permitting and zoning departments), had been supported by many of the city's largestreal estate developers, real estate brokers, and land use lawyers. More the $1.2 million was raised from such sources for Suarez'spolitical action committee to promote a "yes" vote.[28]
As mayor, Suarez has overseen a $400 million municipalbond initiative, sometimes called the Miami Forever Bond, to combat rising sea levels and support affordable housing.[29] The accelerated population growth Miami has experienced since 2020 (which has included an influx of millionaires and billionaires) has contributed to a severe shortage of the city's supply of affordable housing,[3][30] with Miami seeing a 48% increase from 2019 to 2023 to its median cost forsingle family residences (as measured by the Miami Association of Realtors).[3]
Suarez played an important role in securing narrow city commission passage of approval forMiami Freedom Park and its related urban development project. The centerpiece of the project is asoccer specific stadium to be constructed by the ownership ofMajor League Soccer'sInter Miami CF. The stadium will be built on land that was a city-owned golf course.[22]
In the final year of his mayoralty, Suarez voiced his support for plans to construct of theDonald J. Trump Presidential Library in Downtown Miami.[31]
Suarez has advocated for the modernizing of Miami's bureaucracy. In 2018, the city adopted the Electronic Plans Review System to digitize the submission of site plans and zoning requests to the Planning and Zoning Department. This was something that Suarez had pushed for.[28] Miami further digitized its bureaucracy by adopting the eStart system to digitize its process for obtaining building permits. Suarez touted this as streamlining the ability for businesses to get needed permits.[32] Suarez proposed eStart in 2019, and it was launched in January 2021.[33]
Suarez acknowledges that rising sea levels resulting from climate change pose a challenge for Miami.[30] In February 2019 Suarez wrote an article with former Secretary-General of the United NationsBan Ki-Moon on how Miami is defending itself from theeffects of climate change.[34]
In November 2019 the Miami City Commission unanimously adopted a resolution submitted by Suarez amounting to aclimate emergency declaration for Miami. The resolution was symbolic, having no attached actions or plans. Suarez pledged to spend funds raised from the Miami Forever Bond to address climate matters and to pursue additional state and federal funding.[35]
Supporters and critics alike have often described Suarez (whose office as mayor has limited statutory roles and limited statutory authority) as using the pulpit of his title as Miami's mayor to act as the city'sde facto "chief marketing officer".[3] In March 2024, Madison Darbyshire of theFinancial Times credited Suarez with playing a central role in "Miami's repositioning as a glamorous global centre."[3]
Suarez has advertised Miami as being an ascendant low-tax business haven akin to Switzerland,Monaco, Singapore,Abu Dhabi,Dubai,Riyadh andDoha. He has dubbed Miami the "capital of capital" (meaning "capital [city] of[financial] capital"). The state of Florida imposes no individual income tax (making those who reside in it for at least half of the year exempt from individual income tax) and Miami has a low corporate income tax rate of 5.5%.[3] Suarez has also promoted the city of Miami to investors as being a profitable location for tech and finance firms to locate their offices.[3]
In 2022, Suarez spoke at theWorld Economic Forum.[36]
Suarez attracted national headlines by replying onTwitter to posts in whichCalifornia-based technology company executives complained about their dissatisfaction with California's state government. Suarez replied to their posts with "how can I help?", which he turned into a personal catchphrase.[30]
The city of Miami has experienced an increase in wealth and business since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Miami and the state of Florida have each seen large population growth after the start of pandemic, with the state gaining 229,090 residents between July 2020 and July 2021 (the most residents gained by any U.S. state in that time period), and Miami experiencing 12% population growth in 2022 and 14% population growth in 2023. The new population (which included new billionaire resident of Florida such asCarl Icahn,Jeff Bezos,Kenneth C. Griffin,Stephen Schwarzman,David Blumberg, andDavid O. Sacks) greatly increased local and state tax revenue, especially corporate tax revenue. With his eyes on higher office, Suarez has sought to lay public claim to credit for this period of economic growth. His case for his 2024 presidential candidacy was premised on his claim that his mayoral leadership had contributed to the city's economic growth.[3]
Suarez has laid some credit for Florida's growth on theTax Cuts and Jobs Act's capping of thestate and local tax deduction making Florida a more attractive state for Americans to live in than states with higher state and local taxes. He also credits Miami and Florida having less health-related restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic than many other parts of the country as attracting some of the new population. He also credits the post-pandemic increaseremote work as allowing people employed elsewhere to relocate to Miami –positing that Miami's handling of "quality-of-life issues" has attracted people from other cities.[30]
Suarez is acryptocurrency-friendly politician, who has promoted the development of Miami as a cryptocurrency hub.[37] He intends for Miami to be the nextSilicon Valley[38] Suarez has to draw cryptocurrency capital to the city, believing that a strong embrace of cryptocurrency would modernize the city's economy and better position it for e-business (digital business). He erected a “crypto bull” statue in Downtown Miami, an allusion to the fameCharging Bull statue inNew York City (an icon ofWall Street and theManhattan Financial District). He also made an effort to persuade the organizers of cryptocurrency conferences to host their events in Miami.[3]
As part of his friendliness towards cryptocurrency, Suarez touted the naming rights deal forKaseya Center (renamed "FTX Arena") with cryptocurrency exchangeFTX, appearing repeatedly withSam Bankman-Fried. When the companyfiled for bankruptcy amid charges of fraud, the deal was terminated.[39] He also supported plans FTX had before its collapse made to move its headquarters to Miami. Suarez would later comment that his decision to support involvement with FTX had "not matured well," but noted that many prominent investors had been invested in FTX.[3]
In September 2021, Suarez revealed that his ultimate plan for the city of Miami is to abolish taxes. Instead, he hopes to fund the city's activities via the issuance and continued mining of a city-specific blockchain token called MiamiCoin. He also stated that Miami is looking to allow its residents to be paid inBitcoin, and to be able to pay their taxes using Bitcoin.[40] Less than a year after the launch of MiamiCoin, the token was delisted from its last exchange, OKCoin, after losing over 90% of its value. Suarez lost $2,500 personally on MiamiCoin. Suarez continued to tout the money earned from MiamiCoin, and maintained his support for cryptocurrency.[41]
As a gesture of his support for cryptocurrency, in November 2021 he announced that he planned to receive his next mayoral salary payment in the form of bitcoin (a cryptocurrency), becoming the first U.S. politician to take their salary in cryptocurrency.[3][36][42][43] As of early 2024, maintained this personal bitcoin holding (having opted against selling or exchanging it).[3]
The city of Miami partnered with theMiami Beach andMiami-Dade County governments to bid for the region to host the2020 Democratic National Convention (DNC). Suarez was supportive of the bid, believing that it would bring money into the city, remarking
Hosting –in 2020– a Democratic National Convention will create more jobs, will deliver more revenue, and will showcase our city as more than just a tourist destination –but a center for innovation, finance and entrepreneurship.[44]
Miami was one of three finalist cities, along withHouston andMilwaukee. During the bid, Suarez supported a city commission resolution that would have (only in the instance Miami was selected to host the 2020 DNC) granted Miami's municipal administrators permission to begin immediate preparations. The resolution was passed unanimously by the city commission in January 2019. A similar resolution had already been passed in Miami Beach.[44] Miami was unsuccessful in its bid for the convention, with Milwaukee being selected instead.[45]
In 2021, after seeing theLas Vegas Loop constructed byElon Musk'sThe Boring Company, Suarez raised the possibility of using tunneling to relieve congestion problems in Miami, proposing, "something that could potentially connect Brickell to downtown to the Grand Central station to Miami World Center to the Omni area to Edgewater, potentially to Wynwood."[46]
The accelerated population growth that the city has experienced since the start of theCOVID-19 pandemic has contributed to worseningtraffic congestion in the city (as of 2024, the data company Inrix ranked Miami as ranked the ninth-worst city in the world in terms of traffic).[3]
At the time he was elected mayor, Suarez was a member of the Miami-Dade Transportation Planning Organization. Suarez opted to retain this position after becoming mayor.[47] Suarez has been regularly absent from meetings of the regional transit boards, and has contributed little of note in his position on the board.[48]
In July 2024, while attending a meeting where the board was scheduled to hold a vote on adopting a new five-year improvement plan, Suarez publicly castigated the board as having been inadequate at improving transit. Suarez criticized the $680 million financing proposed for specific projects at Miami International Airport (including an expansion of Concourse D) as too little money and not doing enough to improve the airport. However, he appeared unaware that there had been a separate $6.8 billion capital plan for the airport (to be implemented over five to 15 years), which included the $754 million South Terminal project that had broken ground earlier that year.[48]
At July 2024 meeting, Suarez sought to justify his regular absences from the board's meetings, remarking,
The reason why I don't attend the TPO meetings is because we stopped talking about mass transit, it feels like, and I think it should be an item on every single agenda where we should discuss it, deliberate on it, brainstorm, have ideas 15 minutes, 30 minutes. I mean, it's the number-one issue.[48]
Suarez further criticize the board as doing too little to explore new technologies, remarking,
We're not being very innovative. We're still looking at yesterday's technology. We have to start looking at innovation: urban air mobility, tunneling. What are we doing as a board, what are we doing as a community, to look at innovative solutions rather than just, here, we're going to do more heavy rail?[48]
On March 2, 2020, Suarez responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by announcing preparations for a potential outbreak in Miami.[49] Though no cases had yet to reported in Miami, two cases were confirmed by the U.S.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in other areas of the state of Florida.[49] On March 4, 2020, Suarez announced plans to cancel the upcomingUltra Music Festival, stating that the tourists attending would greatly enhance the likelihood of Miami having cases ofCOVID-19.[50] On March 6, 2020, Suarez and the Miami municipal government responded to the outbreak, which by then had resulted in even more confirmed coronavirus cases in the state of Florida,[51] by cancelling the localCalle Ocho Festival as well.[52][53] Suarez and two other city officials confirmed this during a press conference.[52][53]
Suarez contracted the virus, which he confirmed during an interview with theMiami Herald on March 13, 2020.[54] He was the second person confirmed to be infected inMiami-Dade County.[55] He began posting daily video diaries to Instagram, showing the progression of his COVID-19 infection.[56]
In April 2020, Suarez wrote to President Trump urging the president to take action to stop flights from COVID-19 "hot spots" from enteringMiami International Airport.Carlos A. Giménez, themayor of Miami-Dade County, came into conflict with Suarez over this. As Gimenez's position held oversight of the airport, he urged Trump to ignore Suarez's letter since the airport was not Suarez's purview.[57]
In July 2020, Suarez dedicated 39 police officers to the task of enforcing a Miami-wide mask-wearing ordinance.[58][59]
On June 26,[21] the city commission voted 3–2[60] to pass a controversial measure sponsored by CommissionerDamian Pardo to move all future city elections to even years and to postpone the scheduled 2025 elections to 2026. This would have meant that the2025 Miami mayoral election would be postponed to 2026 and that Suarez's term would be extended by one year. Within hours of the resolution's passage, Suarez signed it into law. TheMiami Herald reported that Suarez had privately lobbied in support of the measure prior to its adoption. The city's decision to attempt to move its elections without the consent of voters attracted controversy, including criticisms from Florida GovernorRon DeSantis and Florida Attorney GeneralJames Uthmeier.[21] On June 30, mayoral candidateEmilio T. Gonzalez filed a lawsuit against the city's postponing of its elections. The following month, Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Valerie R. Manno Schurr ruled that the city lacked the authority to move its elections without voter approval.[60]
The city opted against challenging the Circuit Court ruling. After this, Suarez re-asserted his support for the city holing future elections in even years instead of odd years, partnering with Pardo to propose a new measure that would offer voters a ballot question to do so beginning in 2032.[61]
During the2018 Florida gubernatorial election, Suarez voted againstRepublican nominee and eventual winner Ron DeSantis and instead voted for hisDemocratic opponentAndrew Gillum.[62] He voted for DeSantis in the2022 gubernatorial election.[63] Suarez did not vote for RepublicanDonald Trump in either the2016 or2020 United States presidential elections; he wrote inMarco Rubio andMike Pence instead.[64][65][66] However, Suarez endorsed Trump for the2024 election.[67]
Suarez is a significant figure in Florida politics,[68] and has sought to build himself a higher national profile.[3] In July 2024,Governing described Suarez as, "possibly the country's most prominent Republican mayor."[30]
During thesecond Trump administration, Suarez has given strong praise to Trump.[31][69] In September 2025, Suarez joined Trump in theOval Office for the announcement of Trump's plans to host the2026 G20 Summit at theTrump National Doral Miami golf resort.[69] At the November 2025 American Business Forum event in Miami, Suarez presented Trump with a goldenkey to the city,[31] with keys the city also being presented by Suarez at the same event to soccer starLionel Messi[70] and Argentinian presidentJavier Milei.[71]
Suarez' private-sector work during his mayoralty has created allegations of conflict of interests and allegations of impropriety. Suarez, who works as a private real estate attorney, has not disclosed his clients.[3] This has been criticized, since city officials cannot avoid creating potential conflicts of interest for the mayor without knowing who is and is not a client of his.[72]
On September 28, 2023, an investigation was opened by the Florida Ethics Commission after reports surfaced that Suarez did not disclose travel "gifts" worth well over $100. The "gifts" include all expenses paid flights and VIP seating for the2022 Miami Grand Prix and the2022 World Cup. Suarez claims to have repaid all the expenses of these "gifts" with the latter purportedly coming fromDavid Beckham, who Suarez was seen with in his luxury box at the World Cup, and who is a registered lobbyist for Miami Freedom Park, a new MLS stadium development to be built on city-owned land.[73][74] The ethics probe was initiated after a complaint was filed by local Democratic activist Thomas Kennedy, who alleged that Suarez violated state ethics statute.[75] The matter was investigated jointly by the state ethics commission and the Miami-Dade County Ethics Commission. In March 2024, the county commission dismissed its investigation into potential impropriety arising from this.[3][75]
The state ethics commission opened another investigation into Suarez, after Kennedy filed a separate complain in November 2023 alleging that Suarez's spending of municipal funds on personal security for his campaign had violated state ethics statutes. The commission dismissed the complaint in January 2024.[76]
In a disclosure of financial statements to investors, a real estate development company named Location Ventures revealed that they had paid Suarez at least $170,000 to push a development project inCoconut Grove. Records showed that Suarez, Location Ventures CEO Rishi Kapoor, and City Manager Art Noriega met to discuss a zoning hurdle for the development.[77] Suarez has faced allegations of potential impropriety in relation to this $10,000 per month in compensation for consulting services, received from a property developer who does business in the city. Suarez has publicly denied that this work presented any conflict of interest.[3] On June 10, 2023, theMiami Herald noted that "special agents with the FBI's public corruption squad began questioning witnesses this week" on whether $10,000 monthly payments made to Suarez from London Ventures constituted bribery.[78]
In April 2021, reports that Suarez could serve as a running-mate to potential2024 presidential candidateNikki Haley emerged.[79] A report byThe Hill in September 2021 indicated that Suarez was interested in running for president in his own right.[80] Suarez spoke onFox News Sunday on June 11, 2023, touting visits to early primary states, saying "when I take the message to people, they want to hear more."
He urged people to tune into a speech he is due to give at theRonald Reagan Presidential Library on June 15, calling it a "big speech" about the "future of our country," the clearest indication yet of a presidential campaign announcement.[81]
Suarez filed to run for president with theFederal Election Commission on June 14[82] and officially launched his bid the next day. Political scientists such as Sean Freeder of theUniversity of North Florida publicly expressed doubts that he would be a viable contender, noting that he was likely to face two other Floridians: Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis.[83]
.jpg)
While appearing onHugh Hewitt's podcast on June 27, 2023, Hewitt asked Suarez about the ongoingpersecution of the Uyghurs in China, to which Suarez asked "What's a Uyghur?" Suarez then assured Hewitt that he would research the ethnic group. After the podcast concluded and news of the gaffe broke, Suarez told the media that he was confused by Hewitt's pronunciation of the term 'Uyghur' and is very familiar with the crisis.[84] The gaffe was compared to 2016 presidential candidateGary Johnson's infamous "What is Aleppo" comment amid theSyrian civil war.[85][86]
Running for president, he staked out positions on abortion and climate change that were to the left of Florida governor Ron DeSantis, another contender for the nomination.[3]
On July 5, 2023, asuper PAC supporting Suarez launched achatbot that uses his face and voice to answer questions about his campaign. The bot directs users to campaign videos based on the questions asked, and is capable of mocking other presidential candidates such as Ron DeSantis. The program is one of a number of examples of the use ofartificial intelligence in the 2024 election, with major presidential contenders DeSantis and Trump usingtext-to-image models in official campaign videos.[87][88]
On August 4, Suarez announced that his campaign would accept donations inBitcoin, as part of his pro-cryptocurrency platform.[89]
On August 8, Suarez announced that he had met the donor requirements to attend the first Republican primary debate inMilwaukee. However, the RNC had to verify this claim before he could be officially added to the roster.[90] He stated in an interview withThe Hill that if he did not qualify for the first debate, he may leave the race.[91] Besides having 40,000 unique donors from 20 different states, the other requirement to attend a debate was to be consistently present in polls, which he was not.
A super PAC backing Suarez, the SOS America PAC, complained that Suarez was being excluded from polls saying that the zero and one percent that he was polling at was not reflective of his true popularity.[92] Suarez himself argued that the polling requirement was unfair for "relatively unknown" figures such as himself who are competing against candidates who have been national figures for years.[93]
In addition to saying he would drop out if he did not meet the debate requirements, Suarez also called upon all other candidates to drop out if they failed to qualify for the debate at an event in Iowa. Suarez argues that "if you can't meet the minimum thresholds, you shouldn't be trying to take the time involved away from being productive.”[93][94] Suarez did not meet the minimum thresholds and did not qualify for the first Republican debate on August 23.[95]
Following his failure to meet the guidelines to attend the first debate, and his call that all candidates that cannot reach these guidelines drop out, Suarez was called upon to follow his own suggestion and drop out of the race by theMiami Herald,Business Insider,Fox News, and CongressmanCarlos A. Giménez.[96][97][98][99] Suarez would stay true to his promise and suspended his campaign on August 29, 2023, becoming the first in the 2024 race to drop out.[100]
During his campaign Suarez promised $20 gift cards to people who gave a $1 donation to his campaign. However, he has yet to fulfill these promises, and many of his supporters are still waiting for their gift cards. Suarez and his campaign have refused to comment on the issue.[101]
On March 1, 2024, Suarez endorsed Trump's campaign.[102]
Suarez expressed his interest in being Trump's running mate after himself withdrawing from the race for the Republican nomination. Observing that Trump was only constitutionally eligible to be elected to a single additional term beyond the one he had previously served, Suarez observed that it would be possible that Trump's running mate could be a front-runner for the2028 election regardless of the election outcome. Due to this, he opined that, "anyone who doesn't tell you that they would be interested [in being Trump's running mate] is probably being disingenuous."[3]
Suarez expressed interest in running for governorin 2026, in which current term-limits will preventRon DeSantis (the incumbent Republican governor) from seeking another term.[3] However, by September 2025, Suarez ruled out such a run. Suarez himself is term-limited as mayor, and could not run in the2025 mayoral election.[103]
While Suarez identifies himself as a conservative Republican,[104] he is commonly described as being amoderate orliberal Republican.[105][106] According to a 2023 analysis published byFiveThirtyEight, Suarez's "policies remain conservative (lowering taxes and keeping them low has been a focus of his administration, for example), but he takes a slightly more moderate stance on issues like climate change and immigration."[107] He has saidclimate change is real and he declared a climate emergency in Miami.[107][108][109] However, Suarez has also criticized climate activists for being alarmist about the impacts that they expect climate change will have on Miami.[110]
Suarez has supportedLGBT pride events. He supported the passage of theFlorida Parental Rights in Education Act (the so-called "Don't Say Gay" law) as originally signed, which prohibited some classroom instruction onLGBT issues from kindergarten through third grade.[82][111] However, he opposed its later expansion to all grades.[112][113] In 2020, Suarez approved of Miami offering certification for businesses by theNational LGBT Chamber of Commerce making Miami the largest city in Florida to do so.[114][115] He also signed an LGBTQ Ordinance recognizing the contributions of LGBTQ people to the City of Miami.[115]
Suarez identifies as "pro-life" oranti-abortion and supported theSupreme Court's decision inDobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization to overturnRoe v. Wade, the decision which had legalized abortion nationwide.[116] He announced that he supports a nationwide ban on abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy.[117] However, he also supported exceptions after 15 weeks of pregnancy and called abortion a "very nuanced" issue.[118] Suarez would not say whether he supported a ban on abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, saying instead, "the country is not there yet."[119]
During his presidential campaign, Suarez, a first generationCuban American, criticized the idea of repealing the14th Amendment andbirthright citizenship. Suarez noted that without birthright citizenship he would have lacked American citizenship.[120] He also argued thatrefugees from Venezuela should be grantedtemporary protected status in the US.[107]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Mayor of Miami 2017–present | Incumbent |