In a one-on-one interview with Local 10 News Monday, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, fresh off announcing his entry in the 2024 Republican presidential primaries, talked about his campaign for the White House as well as recent local scrutiny over his outside dealings with a developer.
He also talked about a longstanding family feud with a fellow Miami-Dade Republican.
Local 10 News reporter Christina Vazquez spoke with the mayor at his new campaign office in Coral Gables.
A ‘long shot’ candidacy
Suarez, 45, is the third Florida resident but the first and only Hispanic to enter the 2024 presidential race. Politico calls him a “long shot” in the primaries against former President Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis, two men he has at times found himself at odds with; Suarez said he didn’t vote for Trump in 2016 or 2020.
“You are Florida man number three, the other two are considered top contenders,” Vazquez asked. “You didn’t vote for Trump in 2016 and 2020 and we know on some policy issues you are at odds with the governor, do you think that will harm you in terms of wooing the GOP base?”
“I don’t think so because the contrast is clear and I think what voters have a decide if they want someone to tell you what they are against or vote for someone who will tell you what they are for,” Suarez said.
Suarez believes his attributes set him apart from DeSantis, Trump and the other candidates, saying he wouldn’t enter the race if he didn’t think he had a shot.
“I think in the Republican Party right now the dominant position is the former president obviously, he has close to 70%, and then there is everyone else,” Suarez told Vazquez. “I like to say I’d rather be unknown and exciting than known and unexciting.”
“Being exciting is because you are a breath of fresh air. You are Hispanic, there is no Hispanic on either the Republican side or the Democrat side, which I think can expand the party,” he added. You are young. The Republican Party lost young voters under 30 by 26 points. You are from a city. Cities are typically blue. We have changed that Miami-Dade County.”
Suarez, whose role as Miami mayor is largely ceremonial, has championed the idea of luring venture capitalists and tech entrepreneurs to Miami and has also promoted cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. The city has become a hub for venture capital investment. The Financial Times also called Miami “the most important city in America” in 2022.
His campaign slogan is “It’s time we get started.”
“The ‘we’ is the American people and what we are starting is a new conversation,” Suarez explained to Vazquez.
Suarez, Miami’s mayor since 2017, was asked whether he’s trying to appeal to moderates or hardline conservatives.
“My lane pitch is being radically different, looking different, sounding different, having a different vision that is completely positive and focused on American prosperity,” he said.
Suarez aims to be the first sitting mayor elected to the nation’s highest office. He said he’d most like to tackle immigration, the deficit and confronting China.
A longstanding feud
One prominent South Florida Republican is decidedly not on board with Suarez’s candidacy: U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez. The former Miami-Dade County mayor recently called Suarez a “complete fraud” in an interview on Fox News.
It all has its origins in a well-documented, decades-long dispute with Gimenez’s political rival, Francis Suarez’s father, Xavier, who served as the city of Miami’s first Cuban-American mayor and as a county commissioner during Gimenez’s tenure as county mayor.
Suarez weighed in on Gimenez’s remarks:
Vazquez: (He’s) telling national audiences you are a fraud and that you don’t have the experience, in part because the mayoral role here is ceremonial, in part because the municipality here, relative to population size, is small.
Suarez: First, it is personal, obviously he has a personal issue with me for a long time. As for the other argument, about being a young mayor, that is a reasonable argument, but I am the only candidate that has cut a budget by 20% and the courage that takes doesn’t depend on the number of zeroes, we have to cut the federal budget of 20%. Who of all the candidates has built a resilient economic ecosystem that is number one in wage growth, lowest employment in America, and number one in tech job growth? I am the only one who has done it.
Suarez: ‘I have not been contacted by the FBI’ regarding developer payments
Locally, Suarez is facing accusations that he used his influence to help a developer push his real estate project forward.
The Miami Herald first reported Suarez had been paid to help with URBIN, a multi-million dollar mixed-use project at Coconut Grove’s Commodore Plaza. The newspaper later reported that the FBI was investigating the matter.
After disparaging Suarez, Gimenez referenced the reported investigation.
“Right now he is under FBI investigation for doing some outside work with a developer,” Gimenez said on Fox News last week.
Vazquez asked Suarez to respond to Gimenez’s comment, referencing two related court filings.
Vazquez: Do you know about a FBI investigation?
Suarez: No, I have not been contacted by the FBI. He (Gimenez) might know something that I don’t know.
Vazquez: Let’s take what we know from court filings. We have one court filing that states you received $10,000 a month from a developer, you have another court filing that describes this as a written consulting agreement that was reviewed and approved by the city attorney. Simple question, were you receiving $10,000 a month from this developer?
Suarez: What I have said is I am allowed to have outside income. I never have and never will use my public position to benefit a private party. That hasn’t happened. I’ve contacted myself the commission on ethics, which is the only agency that has said on record that they are looking at this in an effort to be transparent and solve this quickly. These are distractions.
Christina: Giving you an opportunity to address what you know what is the subject to all of this – criticism – so let’s start with the simple question again – Yes or no, was it $10,000 a month? That is what we see in the court filing.
Suarez: Yes, yes.
Christina: $10,000 a month and then what was the scope of work? What were you paid to do for that money?
Suarez: I was helping a company raise money and grow as a company. It had nothing to do with my responsibility as the mayor of Miami.
Christina: So when you hear this inference, this allegation, that this developer had business in front of the city, and that this $10,000 a month that you were receiving was to buy influence, essentially an allegation it was a bribe…
Suarez: It is false. I think it is false. I know it is false. That particular developer did not have any zoning requests before the city, there may have been some administrative thing they were doing which they did without my knowledge in the process so that is what I have said from day one and that is why I can say honestly I am not involved.
Both Suarez and the developer, Rishi Kapoor, have denied any wrongdoing.
“(The) Mayor may have outside income/employment. If any person that employs the Mayor has an item on the Commission agenda that would require action by the Mayor, the Mayor is required to recuse himself,” City Attorney Victoria Méndez said in a statement. “We have found no instance where the company in question or its subsidiary has appeared before the Commission or has required action by the Mayor.”
The FBI tells Local 10 News that “it does not confirm or deny the existence of an investigation except in rare circumstances when the public’s assistance is requested.”
The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office said it is working in conjunction with the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust to look into Suarez’s actions.
“We will coordinate our review of the allegations with them. At this early stage, it is premature for us to opine on the allegations,” an SAO spokesperson said.
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