Miami Mayor Francis Suarez just filed to run for President in the Republican primary. This might catch many people by surprise. When I first heard speculation a few months ago that he was considering running for President, I laughed.
He has no business running for President, I thought. He’s not a governor or a senator. He’s a mayor of a city in Florida. That’s the same state that the most popular Republican governor in the country, Ron DeSantis, governs. It’s also the same state where former President Donald Trump lives.
Francis Suarez is entering a very crowded field of other very heavyweight Republicans. Most people do not think that anyone except Trump will win the Republican primary, with DeSantis as the next major contender. The crowded field also includes former Vice President Mike Pence, former Secretary to the U.N., Nikki Haley, and U.S. Senator Tim Scott.
Typically, only governors, senators, and maybe a member of Congress might have a chance to win the nomination of their party to be President. But a mayor? Has that ever happened?
In 2008, New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani ran for President. He didn’t win his party’s nomination, but he was considered “America’s Mayor” at the time since he had the unique role of being the chief executive of the nation’s largest city — one of the most recognizable cities in the entire world. Giuliani also gained great national popularity after his heroic response to 9/11 when the World Trade Center was brought crumbling down in lower Manhattan.
Francis Suarez has not had to deal with anything on that scale.
Yet, the fact that the Mayor of Miami can toss his hat in the ring for President, in a year with a very crowded field, does say something about Miami. This is a city that has arrived.
In 2022, The Economist magazine named Miami as the capital of Latin America (even though it’s obviously situated not in Latin America, but in the United States). Just this week, The Economist also rated Miami the #1 thriving city in the world in a turbulent geopolitical era.
It’s no secret that everyone is moving to Miami.
Waves of immigrants have been coming to Miami from Latin America since the 1950s, when Fidel Castro began his campaign to overthrow the Cuban government and impose communist rule on the island. In the more than 60 years since, millions of Cuban immigrants have fled that island, most making their new home in Miami. The parents of Francis Suarez were part of that wave of immigrants. Nicaraguans, Venezuelans, Colombians, Brazilians, Argentinians, Peruvians, Haitians, Dominicans, Jamaicans, and many others have followed.
Miami is also home to Canadians, Russians, Eastern Europeans and to many from across the Middle East. While Spanish seems to dominate most of the local tongues, there are over 100 languages now spoken by people who reside in Miami.
Perhaps a case Francis Suarez might make: if you can govern the diverse people of Miami, perhaps you can govern the diverse people of the United States. And perhaps you can carry the growing Hispanic vote.
Florida’s great weather and low tax environment has attracted millions of people from other parts of the United States, most especially the northeast and the Midwest, including multitudes of retirees. In recent years, as many large cities like New York, Chicago, and San Francisco seem to get more and more expensive, younger populations are starting to look to places that are more affordable.
For decades, Miami has been a popular place for young people to come to party and enjoy the beaches. However, it was never really a place where a large amount of ambitious young business live full-time, make a higher income, and establish themselves among the country’s elite.
The tipping point for Miami was 2020. COVID lockdowns and crime waves soared in many large cities across the country. Non-essential work could now be done remotely. Those who work in tech, finance, and many other industries started coming to “The Free State of Florida” – a state that avoided draconian COVID lockdowns, was open for business, and where the weather was great.
Leadership here in Florida made that possible, most especially the leadership of Governor Ron DeSantis. Leaders at various local levels also stepped up. One of those leaders was the Mayor of Miami Francis Suarez.
On December 5, 2020, Delian Asparouhov of the Silicon Valley-based Founders Fund sent out a tweet, “ok guys hear me out. What if we move silicon valley to miami?” Three hours later, Mayor Suarez sent what has now become an epically famous tweet when he responded with, “How Can I Help?”
The great part about Suarez’s response is that he asked a question. Most political leaders in America today are constantly making pronouncements. They are telling you what to do and how to do it. Too many think that government is the source of all of our solutions.
With this tweet, the mayor positioned himself (and his local government) as someone who can be helpful and asked the entrepreneur who was thinking of moving to Miami how the local government in Miami could assist them. That’s exactly how government should work.
Entrepreneurs are the lifeblood of our economy. Citizens are the people that the government is made for – not the other way around.
Since that famous tweet, the Founders Fund and many others in Silicon Valley moved to Miami – and they are still coming. As the executive director of the Economic Club of Miami, I meet new Miamians from Silicon Valley’s tech hub and New York City’s financial hub every month. I also now see them sign up for our email list prior to their moving here. It still surprises me.
Re-elected with 78% of the vote in 2021, Francis Suarez is really popular in Miami, a city where crime is at an all-time low, where sustainable growth is happening, and other important infrastructure is really improving. He’s also a large reason many of those tech gurus are moving here.
Miami is a large city. There will always be challenges. But Miami is moving in as great as a direction as one could ever imagine possible.
When you travel across Latin America, everyone talks about Miami. Today, it’s also the hottest city in the United States for young and midcareer professionals to live and work. The tech and financial sectors are particularly booming here. When you are in Miami, there is just a different energy. People are excited to be here and to connect with others from … everywhere! The ones who have been here the longest pride themselves on taking the leap when they did.
The political winds do not indicate that Francis Suarez has any chance of winning the Republican nomination for the White House. But the mere fact someone has convinced him to consider trying is a major indicator that Miami, the city he governs – and governs very effectively — has arrived. His great leadership is a large part of taking this city from a place where tourists simply “party on the beach ‘til the break of dawn” to a place where the future of tech and finance are making their home, and where Latin Americans still find a safe haven as they begin their own American Dream.
In 2012, Tom Wolfe called Miami “the American city of the future.” That future he envisioned is happening right now.
Perhaps Francis Suarez will be able to use his platform as a Presidential candidate to show the rest of the country – and all the broken cities we have – what is possible for them. The blueprint for the future of American cities is the one that Francis Suarez holds in his Republican hands. His entry into this crowded field may simply come with one question for the nation: “How can I can help?”
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
Francisco Gonzalez is the executive director of the Economic Club of Miami, founder & CEO of Fearless Journeys, host of the Agents of Innovation podcast, and author of The American Dream is a Terrible Thing to Waste.
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It’s pretty unlikely that he will get the nomination, but if the GOP actually makes Trump their candidate, then the democrats will make a clean sweep in this upcoming election. I can’t think of anything more scary for this country than that. The hate for Trump is wide and deep across this country, and his supporters are vastly outnumbered by the democrats, preventing Trump from ever getting elected to office. Sorry, but true!