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MIAMI – Francis Xavier Suarez, the mayor of Miami, officially filed documents Wednesday to seek the Republican nomination for president.<\/p>\n
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Suarez, 45, who is currently serving his second term in Florida’s second-largest city, becomes the third candidate from the Sunshine State to enter the hotly contested Republican race. He joins former President Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis.<\/p>\n
He is expected to announce his candidacy Thursday at the Ronald Reagan Library in California Miami Herald<\/a> reported The conservative Republican filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission on Wednesday, according to the newspaper.<\/p>\n BREAKING: Miami’s second-term mayor Francis Suarez has filed to run in the GOP presidential primary, casting himself as a conservative problem-solver as he faces an FBI investigation into the payments of a developer asking the city for help. https:\/\/t.co\/f4USCQtZRL<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Miami Herald (@MiamiHerald) June 14, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n Suarez is the son of the city’s first Cuban-born mayor, he said Politician<\/a>. Miami has about 450,000 people in Miami-Dade County, a region with a population of 2.5 million. He was first elected as mayor of Miami in 2017 with 86% of the vote, according to The New York Times<\/a>. He was re-elected in 2021 with 79% of the vote, according to the newspaper.<\/p>\n However, Su\u00e1rez’s national profile is limited and he faces accusations of influence peddling by a real estate company, the time<\/a> reported The Herald<\/a> reported that Suarez was paid $10,000 a month as a consultant to developer Rishi Kapoor, while the mayor’s office helped Kapoor resolve permitting issues with the city.<\/p>\n Su\u00e1rez has denied any wrongdoing, according to the newspaper.<\/p>\n Suarez’s father, Xavier L. Suarez, was elected mayor of Miami in 1985 and re-elected in 1987 and 1989, the newspaper reported. The elder Suarez was later elected to the Miami-Dade County Commission.<\/p>\n Francis Suarez, a married father, was one of the first elected officials to contract the COVID-19 virus in the first weeks of the pandemic, on Herald<\/a> reported He is trying to become the first sitting mayor to be elected president, WPLG<\/a> reported<\/p>\n The GOP field for president also includes 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, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Vivek Ramaswamy and Larry Elder.<\/p>\n