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.

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