Miami Mayor Francis Suarez becomes 3rd Floridian to join crowded GOP presidential race


Miami Mayor Francis Suarez (R) filed paperwork Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission to officially join the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. He is expected to announce his candidacy in a speech at the Reagan Library in California on Thursday night. Suarez is the first Hispanic candidate in the increasingly crowded GOP field, and the third Florida resident after former President Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Suarez, 45, is a corporate and real estate attorney and the son of Miami's first Cuban-born mayor. He is considered more politically moderate than Trump and DeSantis, the current frontrunners, and told Politico in May that if he ran for the GOP nomination, it would be "because I think I can grow the tent — not for an election, but for a generation" — especially with Hispanic voters. Former Trump presidential adviser Kellyanne Conway said in May she has "not been shy about telling President Trump that Suarez should be on the short, short list for VP should Trump be the nominee."
Suarez has suggested he will also run on his record in Miami, including his push to make it a tech and cryptocurrency hub to rival Silicon Valley. He has also acknowledged he wrote in candidates other than Trump in the 2016 and 2020 elections and did not vote for DeSantis in the 2018 governor's race.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
AI hallucinations are getting worse
In the Spotlight And no one knows why it is happening
-
Social media: How ‘content’ replaced friendship
Feature Facebook has shifted from connecting with friends to competing with entertainment companies
-
The Alien Enemies Act
Feature President Trump is using a long-dormant law to deport Venezuelans. How does it work?
-
Hollywood confounded by Trump's film tariff idea
speed read President Trump proposed a '100% tariff' on movies 'produced in foreign lands'
-
Trump offers migrants $1,000 to 'self-deport'
speed read The Department of Homeland Security says undocumented immigrants can leave the US in a more 'dignified way'
-
Trump is not sure he must follow the Constitution
speed read When asked about due process for migrants in a TV interview, President Trump said he didn't know whether he had to uphold the Fifth Amendment
-
Trump judge bars deportations under 1798 law
speed read A Trump appointee has ruled that the president's use of a wartime act for deportations is illegal
-
Trump ousts Waltz as NSA, taps him for UN role
speed read President Donald Trump removed Mike Waltz as national security adviser and nominated him as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations
-
Trump blames Biden for tariffs-linked contraction
speed read The US economy shrank 0.3% in the first three months of 2025, the Commerce Department reported
-
Trump says he could bring back Ábgego García but won't
Speed Read At a rally to mark his 100th day in office, the president doubled down on his unpopular immigration and economic policies
-
Canada's Liberals, Carney win national election
Speed Read The party of Prime Minister Mark Carney beat Conservative Pierre Poilievre thanks in part to Trump's trade war