Miami Mayor, Francis Suarez, has announced that he is running for United States president in 2024, challenging former US president, Donald Trump, for the Republican nomination.
In an exclusive interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Thursday, Suarez said that he represents “generational change,” but he repeatedly avoided answering about Trump’s indictment or whether the former president had done anything wrong.
He said, “This isn’t about me. This isn’t about my generation. This is about our children.”
The 45-year-old filed paperwork on Wednesday declaring his candidacy for president, making him the third candidate from Florida to jump into the race and the only Latino GOP candidate in the field.
ABC News reported that for months, Suarez has publicly said he’s thinking about running for president and has taken every significant action indicating that he would jump into the race, including visiting early nominating states such as Iowa and New Hampshire and on Thursday night, he will give remarks at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum, a vital stop for anyone either running or considering a presidential run.
The mayor’s national profile has increased over the past few months, most recently this week in Miami on Tuesday where Suarez led the city during former President Donald Trump’s arraignment.
He was even in the courtroom, where Trump pleaded not guilty to 37 criminal counts related to his handling of classified materials, after prosecutors said he repeatedly refused to return hundreds of documents containing classified information ranging from U.S. nuclear secrets to the nation’s defense capabilities.
When asked repeatedly where he stood on the Trump’s indictment, Suarez responded, “I think if we continue to have a conversation about the former president, then the former president will be the nominee.”
When asked again what he thought of the indictment, Suarez said that it makes Republicans feel that “there isn’t an equal administration of justice.”
“I think the fact that we’re in a presidential campaign, and we’re seeing a former president be indicted multiple times, is something that Republicans view as partisan and problematic in a country like ours in a democracy,” Suarez said.