The mayor of Miami becomes the first Hispanic in the US presidential race.

Miami Mayor Francis Suárez this Wednesday became the first Hispanic to enter the 2024 presidential campaign.during the registration of candidates for the Republican primaries, reported by various media.

Suárez, of Cuban descent and the city’s first native-born mayor, has yet to issue a statement on the matter or post on his social media, but this week a campaign fundraising group released a video about his political record.

On the other hand, media outlets like CNN said that in a document presented to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), Suárez officially announced his intention to enter the presidential race this Wednesday, designating Suarez as President, Inc. as its committee for political action. officially.

In accordance with The New York TimesThe mayor of Miami will speak this Thursday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, to formally introduce his candidacy.

The campaign for the Republican primaries already has 13 candidates, and in addition to Suárez, there are two other Florida residents: former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who are first and second in the polls, respectively.

The list also includes former US Vice President Mike Pence, Senator Tim Scott (the only African-American), North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, former Governors Nikki Haley (South Carolina), Chris Christie (New Jersey) and Asa Hutchinson (Arkansas), businessmen Ryan Binkley, Perry Johnson and Vivek Ramaswamy and Larry Elder, a former conservative media personality.

Suárez, 45, was elected mayor of Miami in 2017 and re-elected in 2021 for another four-year term. Before his first election as mayor, he was a city commissioner (councilman) of Miami for eight years. His father, Xavier Suárez, was also mayor of Miami in the 1980s and 1990s, although his last victory in 1997 was overturned following an investigation into election fraud.

As mayor, Suárez sought to put Miami on the map of a new era of technology, innovation and entrepreneurship, including the cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence sectors. In forums and statements, he advocated for Miami to become the new Silicon Valley and even invited Elon Musk to move Twitter’s headquarters to that city.

In recent months, there have been some controversies about it. Last May, the Miami Herald reported that the real estate developer allegedly paid at least $170,000 over the past two years to Mayor Suarez to “help cut red tape and obtain key permits” for the “stalled” real estate project.

According to the exclusive information of the mentioned newspaper, the company Location Ventures was in a very difficult situation to get approval for its plans to develop the URBIN complex in the Coconut Grove neighborhood.

The newspaper claims it had access to notes from meetings held last year at the company in which Location Venturas CEO Rishi Kapoor allegedly tried to reassure “nervous investors” that “Suárez would help solve the problem”.

For their part, both Suárez and Kapoor claim that the mayor’s work for URBIN was unrelated to the City Council.