NEW BLOOD

Miami’s GOP Mayor Francis Suarez Is Running for President

The 45-year-old is the only Hispanic candidate in the race at the moment.

The Republican mayor of Miami Francis Suarez is officially entering the presidential race. He filed his FEC paperwork Wednesday to make it official, just days after teasing a “big speech in the Regan Library” set to take place Thursday. “If I do decide to run,” Suarez said Tuesday before Trump’s arraignment in Miami, “it’s starting a new chapter, a new conversation of a new kind of leader who maybe looks a little different, speaks a little different, had a little bit of a different experience, but can inspire people.” The 45-year-old is the only Hispanic candidate in the race at the moment, entering a crowded field of Florida-based Republican 2024 wannabes that include Florida resident Donald Trump and the state’s Governor Ron DeSantis. His politics are a mixed bag, but notably more moderate than the party’s two current frontrunners. Suarez said he didn’t support Trump for president in either 2016 or 2020, but has since lauded the former president on a number of occasions. Additionally, Suarez has been critical of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ immigration policies and ongoing war with Disney, at one point saying the feud looks like a “personal vendetta.”