(CNN Spanish) – Francis Suárez, the 43rd Mayor of the City of Miami, was elected in 2017 with 86% of the vote and re-elected in 2021 with 78%.
He is Miami’s first native-born mayor and, since 1996, when Stephen Clark left office, the first non-Cuba-born mayor, although his roots are of Cuban descent.
His father is Democrat Xavier Suárez, who was also a mayor of Miami and a former commissioner of Miami-Dade County, while his mother, Rita Suárez, took care of his upbringing and that of his three siblings after arriving from the island.
Prior to his first election as mayor in 2017, Suárez served as Miami City Commissioner for eight years.
Until recently, he also served as President of the United States Conference of Mayors.
His household consists of his wife Gloria Fonz Suárez and their children Andrew Xavier and Gloriana Pilar.
Francis Suárez graduated from high school in 1996. He later earned his bachelor’s degree in finance from Florida International University. According to his biography on the city government website, he was in the top 10% of his class. He then earned his law degree from the University of Florida’s Levin College of Law, graduating with honors in 2004.
Before running for public office, Suárez founded a real estate company. He currently works as a lawyer in a law firm specializing in real estate transactions.
Suárez’s proposals
Technology, innovation and entrepreneurship were the pillars of their campaigns. It has boosted industries like cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence. Even in 2021, he was merely the first American politician to accept his salary in cryptocurrency.
He has said he wants to make Miami the new Silicon Valley and has even invited Elon Musk to move Twitter headquarters to the city.
Climate change was also one of his buzzwords. In February 2019, he co-wrote an article with former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in The New York Times on how Miami is fighting back the effects of climate change.
Away from DeSantis and Trump
Suárez said he voted for Florida governor in 2018 in favor of the Democratic nominee, who lost to current governor Ron De Santis, drawing criticism from within the Republican Party.
Then, in 2020, it emerged that Suárez had not voted for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
As mayor, he at times clashed with DeSantis over the governor’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, his allegations of voter fraud in the state, and most recently his falling out with Disney.
Still, Suárez is a supporter of the De Santis-sponsored Florida law, which critics call “Don’t Say Gay,” which bans certain classes on sexual orientation and gender identity in schools.
Suarez in the Republican race
Suárez is the first prominent Hispanic candidate to join the Republican race. Though he’s aware he still has a long way to go if he wants to get closer to his state’s favorites Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump.