Miami Mayor Francis Suarez is the latest Republican vying for the presidency — and the only Hispanic in the running so far.
His entry into the 2024 Republican presidential primary Thursday left many wondering how he would carve out a place in a crowded GOP field of 10 candidates, including two heavyweights from Florida.
Suarez is drawing on his background as a Cuban American whose family faced oppression under the island’s communist regime, a youthful politician who started in politics by asking Miamians to vote for his papi when his father ran for mayor, and a leader who sees his city as a “thriving city on a hill.”
The mayor is also under fire after the Miami Herald reported in May that a developer quietly paid Suarez at least $170,000 over the past two years to help cut through red tape and secure critical permits for his stalled real estate project in Coconut Grove.
Here’s what to know about Suarez as he joins the 2024 presidential primary.
1. He would consider pardoning Trump
In a interview Friday with MSNBC’s José Díaz-Balart, Suarez said he would “look at” pardoning former President Donald Trump to “heal the country.” Though still aligned with Republican sensibilities, Suarez has repeatedly said he didn’t vote for Trump in 2016 and 2020.
“I think Americans are bewildered by this situation,” Suarez said. “The president is innocent until proven guilty. He’s got to respond to a jury of his peers, so that process has to play out before any sort of a discussion about pardons can happen.”
2. He criticized “Don’t Say Gay” expansion
Suarez told NBC News Friday he initially supported Gov. Ron DeSantis’ Parental Rights in Education law, most commonly known as “Don’t Say Gay,” but said he believes limiting discussions about sex and gender in all grades was “excessive.”
And the Miami mayor noted he didn’t vote for DeSantis in 2018 — but did so in 2022.
“I think [there] should be sex education... because we need to make sure that our children can grow up in an environment where they can make good choices,” Suarez said. “But I don’t think it should be indoctrination. I think that’s where there can be a debate.”
3. He supports a federal abortion ban
As other Republicans hopefuls propose a federal six-week abortion ban, Suarez told the AP Thursday he supports a 15-week ban across the country. He’s also suggested that Florida’s six-week ban is too severe.
“Look, I think that the country is not there yet,” Suarez said about the six-week ban.
4. He favors immigration reform
Suarez — who runs a city that is made up of majority immigrants, including his own parents — told the AP that his background gives him “a lot of credibility” when it comes to immigration reform. For Suarez, securing the border and changing the immigration system is a necessity.
“I do think that we need to right-size legal immigration and that it should be connected to our employment rate and our declining birth rate,” Suarez said. “And I do think we have to do something with those who are undocumented in our country.”
5. He’s big on crypto
Suarez told NBC that the next president needs to increase prosperity by transitioning to a digital economy. Since December 2020, the Miami mayor has grown his national profile by promoting the city as a business-friendly tech capital that embraced cryptocurrency, even as the fever over crypto cooled in the past year amid dips in value for several tokens.
And in 2021, he began accepting his city salary in Bitcoin.
Suarez was part of the push to welcome businesses to Miami, including FTX, a crypto exchange company that went bankrupt in November. A month later, its founder was charged with fraud.
“We’ve positioned our city and we need to position our country,” Suarez said. “I don’t think the candidates are really talking about that, and I’m not sure how many of them really understand how to position our country for the maximum amount of prosperity.”
