Miami Mayor Francis Suarez is running for president. The Republican formally announced his candidacy in avideo posted online Thursday.
“I’m going to run for president,” Suarez says in the ad. “I’m going to run for your children and mine. Let’s give them the future they deserve.”
Suarez, 45, joins a crowded GOP field that includes two other notable Florida Republicans: Gov.Ron DeSantisand former PresidentDonald Trump.
In the video, which comes one day after Suarezfiled the necessary paperworkwith the Federal Election Commission, Suarez suggests a contrast between himself and the former president, saying: “America’s so-called leaders confuse being loud with actually leading. All Washington wants to do is fight with each other instead of fighting for the people that put them in office.”
In anappearanceonGood Morning America, Suarez said he’s running for president “because I think I have a different message than what other candidates have.”
“People want somebody who can unify them,” he added.
Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg
With his indictment, Trump became the first U.S. president to be charged in a federal investigation (the former president was arraigned earlier this year in aseparate criminal investigationat the state level).
Trump is accused of 37 criminal offenses: 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information (a violation of the Espionage Act); one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice; one count of withholding a document or record; one count of corruptly concealing a document or record; one count of concealing a document in a federal investigation; one count of scheme to conceal; and one count of false statements and representations.
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Suarez, a Cuban-American attorney and the first Hispanic to enter the 2024 race, was first elected to the mayor’s office in 2017 and was re-elected in 2021.
When Stephanopoulos continued to ask whether Suarez believed Trump had been reckless, the mayor responded: “This conversation is not a healthy conversation for the country… we shouldn’t be talking about candidates being indicted.”
Suarez, whodid not commit to voting for Trump in the past two electionsand has previously criticized the former president, said he would pledge to support the Republican nominee in 2024, even if it is Trump.
source: people.com
