THIRD Floridian jumps into GOP president contest as Miami Mayor Francis Suarez files papers to run

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez filed paperwork on Wednesday to bid for the Republican presidential nomination, after visiting the federal courthouse where former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty to a 37 count charge.

The move makes Suarez, the son of the city’s first Cuban-born mayor, the third Florida resident to enter the race. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis currently ranks a distant second to Trump in national polls.

Its impact on the Florida race — the primary is scheduled for March 19 next year — is unclear. He joins a field of more than a dozen candidates, where alternatives to Trump divide the opposition and where the former president has collected lopsided leads even as he faces criminal charges. He has already received a hat tip from Trump’s team while scouting the race.

The 45-year-old mayor is the only Spanish candidate in the race. He declared his candidacy to the Federal Election Commission. He teased an announcement, noting that he would be giving a “big speech” at California’s Reagan Library on Thursday.

“If I decide to run,” he said Tuesday before Trump appeared in court, “it will start a new chapter, a new conversation from a new kind of leader who might look a little different, speak a little different, bit different. bit of a different experience, but can inspire people.’

“Today was about keeping people safe. We made it,” he tweeted Tuesday as Miami became the center of a global narrative with the impeachment of Trump. There were a few mishaps, like when a protester ran past the courthouse in front of the president’s motorcade.

Suarez is the president of the American Conference of Mayors. He has has received national attention in recent years for his efforts to attract businesses to Miami, with a view to turning the city into a crypto hub and the next Silicon Valley.

Suarez, who is vying to become the first sitting mayor to become president, joins a GOP primary battle with DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, and former Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie. Despite having a double-digit candidate field, the race is largely viewed as a two-person contest between Trump and DeSantis.

But the other competitors are hoping for an opening, which Trump has provided with his myriad legal vulnerabilities — no more serious than his federal charge on charges of mishandling sensitive documents and refusing to return them. He pleaded not guilty Tuesday in Miami federal court to 37 felonies.

Suarez has said he did not support Trump in the 2016 or 2020 presidential election, but wrote on behalf of U.S. Senator Marco Rubio and then-Vice President Pence. In 2018, Suarez publicly condemned Trump after reports emerged that he questioned why the United States would accept more immigrants from Haiti and ‘shithole countries’ in Africa.

But times have changed, with Trump advisers praising Suarez’s work and helping him promote what he calls “the Miami success story.” Former White House adviser Kellyanne Conway has even put forward Suarez’s name as a possible vice presidential choice.

Suarez, who is married with two young children, is a corporate and real estate attorney who previously served as a Commissioner of the City of Miami. He has also positioned himself as someone who can help the party get in touch with Hispanics. In recent months, he has made visits to early GOP voter states as he weighed up a potential 2024 campaign.

He is more moderate than DeSantis and Trump, but has carefully vetted the needle on cultural issues that have become popular among GOP politicians.

Suarez has criticized DeSantis and dismissed some of the state immigration bills he signed as “headline grabbers” without substance. He has said immigration is a problem that “cries out for a national solution” at a time when many Republicans support hardline policies.

The two-term mayor previously expressed support for a Florida law, championed by DeSantis and dubbed “Don’t Say Gay,” that would ban classroom teaching about sexual orientation or gender identity in kindergarten through third grade, but he did not specify whether he supported the law. extending the policy to all classes. Like other Republicans, Suarez has criticized DeSantis’ feud with Disney over the same law, saying it appears like a “personal vendetta.”

Suarez, who has further ingratiated himself with the Trump team, echoed Trump’s attacks on DeSantis’ behavior, saying the governor doesn’t make eye contact and struggles with personal relationships with other politicians.

Suarez’s participation means Trump isn’t the only candidate reportedly facing a looming federal investigation.

According to the Miami Herald, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the FBI are investigating whether $10,000 monthly payments from a Miami developer subsidiary were made in exchange for favors related to a development project.

In 2020, the mayor made an effort to lure tech companies to Florida after the state eased COVID-19 restrictions. He met big tech players and investors such as PayPal founder Peter Thiel and tech magnate Marcelo Claure, appeared on national television and was profiled by magazines.

Suarez, who has said he receives his salary in Bitcoin, has also hosted Bitcoin conferences and began heavily promoting a cryptocurrency project called Miami Coin, created by a group called City Coins.

But the hype faded as virus restrictions eased elsewhere, eliminating Miami’s COVID-19 advantage. Suarez’s vision also hit roadblocks with the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, which would move its US headquarters to Miami’s Financial District before founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas last December.

The only cryptocurrency exchange that traded Miami Coin suspended its trading due to liquidity issues and fell short of its promise to generate enough money to eliminate city taxes.

Miami also ranks as one of the worst major US cities for income inequality and is one of the most unaffordable cities in the country for housing.