Miami’s mayor mulls a White House run
With help from Adam Cancryn, Eugene Daniels, Rachael Bade, Ella Creamer, Jesse Naranjo, Rishika Dugyala and Teresa Wiltz
What up, Recast family! Title 42 as a deportation tool is no more. Talks between the White House and congressional staff pick up steam. Daniel Penny, the white man who faces criminal charges in the chokehold death of a Black homeless man on a New York subway, surrenders to police. First, though, we focus on a man who hopes to become a disrupter in the GOP presidential primary.
When Miami Mayor Francis Suarez arrived at POLITICO’s Rosslyn, Va., headquarters Thursday afternoon, he was in a very chatty mood. Fitting for an interview with three White House reporters and this newsletter writer, we convened in a sundrenched conference room aptly named Filibuster.
It was a chaotic news day with the expiration of the public Covid-19 public health emergency and the lifting of Title 42, the sweeping and controversial Trump-era border policy. The mayor’s visit also came on the heels of one of the most-talked about events of the young 2024 presidential cycle: former President Donald Trump’s CNN town hall.
(Last year, Suarez, 45, was a nominee on The Recast’s inaugural Power List.)
POLITICO’s Rachel Bade, Adam Cancryn, Eugene Daniels and I sat down with Suarez for a free-ranging chat. At times refreshingly earnest, he both poked at the media’s obsession with the ex-commander in chief and its failure to understand why someone like Trump would resonate with voters.
When we asked him about Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and why his as-yet-unannounced presidential campaign appears to be struggling, Suarez redirected the conversation to deliver some news.
“I’m not here to be a political commentator,” Suarez interjected.
“I’m here, because I’m a Hispanic mayor, a Republican, who was considering running for president.”
- 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. . .
- 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.”
Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article276068561.html
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