Miami mayor raising super PAC cash, assembling campaign team as ’24 announcement looms

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez has tapped City Hall staffers to join a campaign team and is steering political contributions into a federal super PAC, strong signs that he’s preparing to launch a bid for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

Suarez, who has been teasing a presidential campaign for months, is expected to join supporters Wednesday evening for a fundraiser at the riverfront Kimpton EPIC Hotel, where invitations list minimum “suggested contributions” at $10,000 per couple. An invite shows the event is sponsored by America For Everyone, a super PAC that raised more than $6 million last year, with large contributions from donors who have previously supported the mayor.

Meanwhile, public records show Suarez has given five of his City Hall staffers unpaid leave through the end of August. Sources familiar with the matter told the Miami Herald that the employees, including a top advisor and spokesperson, took the leave to work in support of a soon-to-be-announced presidential campaign.

Members of the mayor’s political team did not respond to requests for comment. Attempts to reach the employees by cell phone and text were unsuccessful. Suarez’s chief of staff declined to discuss the reason the staffers stepped away from their jobs at the beginning of the month.

The moves come as Suarez, a part-time mayor who works as an attorney and private equity executive, faces an investigation into his quiet consulting work for a developer who sought City Hall approvals for a real estate project. The mayor says he welcomes the scrutiny because he has done nothing wrong.

Read more: Miami official rejected plans by a developer paying Suarez. Then the mayor’s aide called

Suarez has not publicly announced a decision on a presidential run, but is expected to do so soon. Developer and major Suarez donor Moishe Mana said the mayor recently told him a decision was days away.

“We’ve been talking,” Mana said. “He said he’s going to make a decision with his wife within the next week.”

One opportunity for a potential announcement: a June 15 speech at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library outside Los Angeles, California. Suarez committed months ago to appear as part of the organization’s “A Time for Choosing” speaker series. The series, which this year has featured Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, among others, showcases “leading voices in the conservative movement.”

Suarez, the 45-year-old former president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, is not typically included in discussions about Republican presidential contenders, though speculation about his ambitions surged as the mayor promoted Miami as America’s cryptocurrency capital.

Polls show former President Donald Trump has a significant lead over a growing Republican field, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. In late April, a Fox News poll that included Suarez showed him polling under 0.5%.

The Super PAC

It’s unclear exactly how much money Suarez, a prolific fundraiser, has available to fuel a potential presidential campaign.

Last year, he raised money for a political nonprofit, Agenda For America, that bought social media ads in multiple 2024 primary states. The organization continued last month to advertise on Facebook and Instagram. The mayor has also raised millions into a state-registered political committee.

The super PAC hosting the mayor as its featured speaker Wednesday at the Maison F.P. Journe in the EPIC Hotel reported about $5.8 million in the bank to begin the year. The PAC, created with a name that mirrors Suarez’s state-level political committee, Miami For Everyone, has not yet had to report contributions or expenses in 2023. Its next finance report is due July 31.

On Friday, the committee filed paperwork to change its name from America for Everyone to SOS America PAC.

The super PAC, registered with the Federal Election Commission in early 2022, has reported raising slightly more than $6 million from 93 donations. According to FEC documents, the committee’s only reported political activity came the week before the November election, when the organization spent $35,000 on radio ads supporting the re-election campaign of U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, R-Miami.

FEC documents show that two donors gave the PAC $1 million each. Howard W. Lutnick, CEO of financial services firms Cantor Fitzgerald and BGC Partners, contributed $1 million in November 2022. Orlando Bravo, a co-founder of private equity firm Thoma Bravo, made two $500,000 donations, in July and December. Bravo previously supported Suarez’s mayoral reelection campaign in 2021.

California-based cryptocurrency company Ripple Labs Inc. gave $500,000. Jorge Mas, the managing owner of MLS franchise Inter Miami, gave Suarez $500,000. From 2018 to 2022, Mas lobbied Suarez and the City Commission on a massive land deal to build a soccer stadium and mall on public land next to Miami International Airport. With support from the mayor, the 99-year lease and necessary zoning changes were approved through multiple City Commission votes in 2022.

Mana, the developer, and Frank Quesada, an attorney and former Coral Gables commissioner, each gave the PAC $100,000. Jorge Pérez, chairman and CEO of real estate firm Related Group, contributed $50,000.

One $5,000 donation came from Mario Garcia-Serra, an attorney at law firm Gunster who is registered to lobby in the cities of Miami and Coral Gables on behalf of companies controlled by developer Rishi Kapoor. Kapoor’s firm URBIN has paid Suarez at least $170,000 since September 2021 to be a consultant.

While Suarez was being paid by URBIN, the developer sought critical permits from City Hall for a $70 million redevelopment project in Coconut Grove. The developer’s internal meeting notes indicate that Kapoor asked Suarez to help resolve permitting issues that were holding up his project. Suarez disputes the accuracy of the documents, and says his work for the developer was unrelated to Miami City Hall.

After the Herald first reported about the mayor’s work for Kapoor, the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office and the Miami-Dade Commissioner on Ethics and Public Trust opened a joint investigation into the matter.