Francis Suarez
Francis Xavier Suarez (/swɑːˈrɛz/ SWAH-rez; born October 6, 1977) is an American lawyer and politician who is the 43rd and current mayor of Miami since November 2017. The son of former Miami mayor Xavier Suarez, he previously served on the Miami City Commission from 2009 to 2017.
This article is about the politician. For other uses, see Francis Suárez (disambiguation).
Francis Suarez
Suarez is a graduate of Florida International University (FIU), where he earned a bachelor's degree in finance. After that he earned a J.D. from the University of Florida in 2004. He was first elected to represent the 4th district in the Miami City Commission in 2009 and was reelected in 2011 and 2015. He served until 2017 when he was elected mayor of Miami. He was re-elected in 2021. During his mayoralty, Suarez has been noted for his advocacy for cryptocurrency.
Suarez was a candidate in the 2024 Republican Party presidential primaries, but withdrew from the race after he failed to qualify for the first primary debate.
Early life and education[edit]
The oldest of four siblings, Suarez is the son of Rita and Xavier Suarez, two-time Miami mayor. His aunt, Lala, is the mother of U.S. Congressman Alex Mooney from West Virginia.[1]
Suarez attended Immaculata-LaSalle High School. He graduated in 1996 and went on to graduate in the top 10% of his class from Florida International University (FIU) with a bachelor's degree in finance. Following college, Suarez chose to attend the University of Florida Fredric G. Levin College of Law, receiving his J.D. degree cum laude in 2004.[2]
Legal career[edit]
After law school, Suarez became an attorney with the law firm Greenspoon Marder, specializing in corporate and real estate transactions.[2]
In 2021 Suarez joined the newly established Miami office of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan.[3] On July 1, 2023, due to his ongoing presidential candidacy, Suarez went on unpaid leave from the firm.[4]
Early political activity[edit]
In 1998 Suarez's father Xavier Suarez was removed from Miami's mayoral office by the Florida circuit court. The lawsuit by Joe Carollo alleging voter fraud in the first round of the mayoral election, the court found that it had merit.[5] During the lawsuit, Suarez's father was confronted with witness signatures for invalid absentee ballots by Carollo's lawyers. The signatory "F. Suarez" did not reside at any of the addresses given. Suarez's father denied any involvement with witnessing absentee ballots.[6] Observers found, that the sample of signatures given by Suarez's father did bear some resemblance to the signatures on the witness ballots.[7]
Before serving in the city government, Suarez first served on his local homeowner association. Suarez cited a home burglery that he had suffered as his motivation for getting involved.[8]
Political positions[edit]
While Suarez identifies himself as a conservative Republican,[90] he is commonly described as being a moderate or liberal Republican.[91][92][93][94][95][96][97][98]
According to an analyst for FiveThirtyEight, Suarez's "policies remain conservative (lowering taxes and keeping them low has been a focus of his administration, for example), but he takes a slightly more moderate stance on issues like climate change and immigration."[99] He has said climate change is real and he declared a climate emergency in Miami.[99][100][101] However, Suarez has also criticized climate activists for being alarmist about the impacts that they expect climate change will have on Miami.[102]
Suarez has supported LGBT pride events. He supported the Florida Parental Rights in Education Act as originally signed, which prohibited some classroom instruction on LGBT issues from kindergarten through third grade.[103][104] However, he opposed its later expansion to all grades.[105][106] In 2020, Suarez approved of Miami offering certification for businesses by the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce making Miami the largest city in Florida to do so.[107][108] He also signed an LGBTQ Ordinance recognizing the contributions of LGBTQ people to the City of Miami.[108]
Suarez identifies as "pro-life" or anti-abortion and supported the Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization to overturn Roe v. Wade, the decision which had legalized abortion nationwide.[109] He announced that he supports a nationwide ban on abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy.[110] However, he also supported exceptions after 15 weeks of pregnancy and called abortion a "very nuanced" issue.[111] Suarez would not say whether he supported a ban on abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, saying instead, "the country is not there yet."[112]
Suarez, a first generation Cuban American, criticized the idea of repealing the 14th Amendment and birthright citizenship during his presidential campaign. Suarez noted that without birthright citizenship he would have lacked American citizenship.[113] He also argued that refugees from Venezuela should be granted temporary protected status in the US.[99]