Miami Mayor Francis Suarez will seek the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, having on Wednesday filed the paperwork to run for president, CNN reported, citing new FEC filings.
Suarez is set to speak Thursday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. During an appearance on Fox News over the weekend, the mayor said he would make a “major announcement” in the coming weeks and pointed to his remarks at the Reagan Library as “one that Americans should tune in to.”
Suarez, a Cuban American, is currently in his second term as mayor of Miami and until recently, also served as the president of the bipartisan US Conference of Mayors.
Ahead of his filing, a super PAC supporting Suarez on Wednesday released a two-minute video touting his leadership of the city as he teased a longshot bid for the White House.
Suarez starts off as a decided underdog in the Republican primary, joining an already crowded field which included former President Donald Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
Suarez, who has previously been critical of Trump, told Fox News on Sunday that the news of the former president’s first federal indictment felt “un-American” and “wrong at some level.”
Despite Trump’s indictment in the classified documents case, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll completed on Monday showed that he remains far ahead in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.
Some 43% of self-identified Republicans said Trump was their preferred candidate, compared to 22% who picked Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Trump's closest rival. The rest of the Republican field had low single-digit levels of support.