Miami Mayor Francis Suarez has ended his unlikely presidential campaign after failing to qualify last week for the Republican Primary Debate in Milwaukee. He is the only Republican candidate to withdraw from the race.
Suarez said in , a long statement posted on his X page: “Running for president of the United States was one of the most honoring experiences of my life.” While I have suspended my campaign for president, my commitment to make this a better country for all Americans remains.
Suarez’s campaign was centered on his success in Miami. He won re-election in one of Florida’s bluest towns as a Republican. His campaign struggled to gain traction as he only made a few trips to the early states. He only went to Iowa three times and New Hampshire twice since June when announcing his run.
The mayor of Miami honed the message he delivered on the campaign trail in the early voting states. He railed against the “defunding the police” movement, and highlighted his family’s migration from Cuba to the United States.
Suarez told reporters that he was going to drop out of the debate if he did not make it to the podium.
He said, “If you don’t meet minimum thresholds, don’t try to take away time and volume from people who do,” during a press conference at the Iowa State Fair. “I don’t think candidates should linger around, if they don’t have a viable path.”
Early August, Suarez’s campaign announced that it had reached the threshold of 40,000 unique donors — one benchmark out of three candidates must meet before they are given a podium on stage in Milwaukee.
Suarez prematurely celebrated making the stage, posting a video that’s since been deleted. Suarez posted a video that has since been removed to celebrate his stage debut. He then learned the RNC had not counted of one of the polls.
Suarez’s campaign was dogged by polling problems from the beginning. The Miami mayor has barely registered in the polls since launching his campaign, which began at the start of the summer. He is struggling to gain attention, as he competes with two more well-known Florida men.
“The people I am running against are national figures who have been around for many, many decades.” Suarez said on August 11 that he had been a national celebrity for 60 days. There are a lot polls I haven’t taken part in.
Suarez is the only Latino Republican candidate. Since launching his campaign, in June, he has sought donations through a variety methods. He solicited donations using the mobile payment app Venmo, and offered one lucky donor tickets for soccer star Lionel Messi to debut with MLS team Inter Miami.
Suarez stressed on his campaign trail how important it was to get him onto the stage of a debate for his longshot candidacy.
Suarez said in a interview with host Chuck Todd on Meet the Press Now: “Our next objective has been to reach the debate stage. We believe that we will achieve this and it’ll be my very first chance to introduce myself to the nation.”
The Miami Herald reported that Suarez had doubled his wealth to $3.4million during his tenure as mayor. This led critics to wonder if he used his political position for personal gain. Suarez refused to apologize when he spoke with NBC News back in July.
Suarez stated, “I have done well and I will not apologize for it.”
Suarez earns $130,000 as mayor and has other sources of income including , as an attorney, and , as a corporate consultant .
