Miami Mayor Francis Suarez filed documents before the Federal Election Commission on Wednesday to join the Republican ticket for president, becoming the third candidate from Florida to run for the Republican nomination.
Suárez, of Cuban origin, is the first Hispanic candidate to jump into the 2024 race.
Voters chose Suarez, 45, twice in Miami, one of the most politically important areas in the nation’s third-largest state. But she is up against former President Donald Trump and Governor Ron DeSantis, who reside in Florida.
Another problem for Suárez is whether he can raise enough money to qualify for the Republican debates, scheduled for this summer. He could also be hampered by his acknowledgment that he did not vote for Trump in either the 2016 or 2020 elections.
He is scheduled to speak at the Reagan Library in California on Thursday night.
The Miami mayor grew up in politics with his father, Xavier L. Suárez, who served two terms as mayor in the 1980s and 1990s. The elder Suárez was later elected to the Miami-Dade County Commission, where his terms overlapped with his son’s time in office.
This spring, Suárez has come under fire over reports that a company paid him large sums of money seeking help moving forward on a luxury condominium project.
In a series of articles, Miami Herald reported that Mr. Suarez had received at least $80,000 to advise the developer, Location Ventures, and then that the developer had paid him $170,000 “to help cut red tape and obtain critical permits.”
