| | | | |  | | By Brakkton Booker | With help from Adam Cancryn, Eugene Daniels, Rachael Bade, Ella Creamer, Jesse Naranjo, Rishika Dugyala and Teresa Wiltz
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POLITICO illustration/Photo by AP | What up, Recast family! Title 42 as a deportation tool is no more. Talks between the White House and congressional staff pick up steam. Daniel Penny, the white man who faces criminal charges in the chokehold death of a Black homeless man on a New York subway, surrenders to police. First, though, we focus on a man who hopes to become a disrupter in the GOP presidential primary. When Miami Mayor Francis Suarez arrived at POLITICO’s Rosslyn, Va., headquarters Thursday afternoon, he was in a very chatty mood. Fitting for an interview with three White House reporters and this newsletter writer, we convened in a sundrenched conference room aptly named Filibuster. It was a chaotic news day with the expiration of the public Covid-19 public health emergency and the lifting of Title 42, the sweeping and controversial Trump-era border policy. The mayor’s visit also came on the heels of one of the most-talked about events of the young 2024 presidential cycle: former President Donald Trump’s CNN town hall. (Last year, Suarez, 45, was a nominee on The Recast’s inaugural Power List.) POLITICO’s Rachel Bade, Adam Cancryn, Eugene Daniels and I sat down with Suarez for a free-ranging chat. At times refreshingly earnest, he both poked at the media’s obsession with the ex-commander in chief and its failure to understand why someone like Trump would resonate with voters. When we asked him about Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and why his as-yet-unannounced presidential campaign appears to be struggling, Suarez redirected the conversation to deliver some news. “I'm not here to be a political commentator,” Suarez interjected. “I'm here, because I'm a Hispanic mayor, a Republican, who was considering running for president.”
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Should he enter the race for the GOP nomination, the son of former Miami Mayor Xavier Suarez would add an interesting dynamic to the contest. The two-term mayor, who currently heads the bipartisan U.S. Conference of Mayors, would be the only Latino in the field thus far.
And for a party that obsesses over crime statistics of many major Democratic-run big cities, Miami just recorded its lowest per-capita homicide rate in nearly 60 years. It is also a burgeoning tech hub. Last month, the state's GOP-led Legislature made sweeping changes to its election laws. Now, a sitting officeholder can seek another office without first resigning. Most saw that as a boon for DeSantis. But there’s another Florida politician who sees this as a perfect opportunity as well: Suarez. As he sees it, every campaign has its disruptions: “Obama’s was the micro-contributions. Former President Trump was the earned media versus the 30-second ads. “America is incredible,” he said. “The country picks people that no one expects, oftentimes. Right?” ◆◆◆ This interview has been edited for length and clarity. THE RECAST: The big talk around the country and within the Republican Party today is the town hall with President Trump. What do you think? SUAREZ: I think the media is obsessed with Donald Trump. I think they play into it, criticize him, but yet play into his strengths: giving him an hour of volume is precisely what he wants. And then [the media] doesn't understand why voters support a lot of the things that he says. I have spent time in the four [early] primary states: New Hampshire, South Carolina, Iowa and Nevada. I can tell you, there's a fundamental disconnection between what's happening in the real world and what is in the press. In this head-to-head match right now, [Trump is] in a very, very strong position. President [Joe] Biden's numbers just came out and he’s at the lowest that a first-term president has been in the history of presidents of 36 percent approval, 65 percent of people don't even want him to run. This is a crazy statistic, he is like [at] 26 percent with people under 30, which is a demographic he won. And I think Trump is beating [him] among Hispanics by like 11 points, which I thought was very, very unusual, right? So that's a reality. | 
President Joe Biden and Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther listen as Miami Mayor Francis Suarez speaks in the East Room of the White House, Jan 20, 2023. | Susan Walsh/AP Photo | THE RECAST: I’m curious why you think that the former president is doing so well with Latino voters. SUAREZ: Democrats have been negligent to the point of [being] reckless in their branding and their messaging, right? First by trying to monolithically brand them as Latinx, which doesn't resonate, I'm sorry. As a Hispanic, it doesn’t resonate. And then [Democrats] go “OK, the monolithic brand didn't work. So let's go nuanced.” Then the first lady goes to Texas and says, “We are as unique as San Antonio tacos.” That doesn't resonate, either. I'm sorry. [Editor’s note: When Jill Biden spoke at the UnidosUS conference, she was talking specifically about San Antonio breakfast tacos. She later apologized for the remark.] So that is a tremendous opening for Hispanics and for Republicans. And if you look at, for example, the former president's policies on Cuba and Venezuela, he rolled back a lot of the — in my opinion — giveaways from the prior administration in Cuba and 75 percent of new-arrival Cubans supported Trump. In Venezuela, he took a bold step, whether you like it or not, in supporting [opposition leader] Juan Guaidó and getting the international community — 50 countries — to acknowledge his leadership. I think the policies matter. They've resonated with the Hispanics. I think there's a misperception that Hispanics only care about immigration, that's not true. I think Hispanics care about family values. They're very pro-American. And I'm very pro-American. My parents came to this country [from Cuba] with nothing. I was born here in Coconut Grove. We came with nothing and so we feel a sense of gratitude and debt to this country that shapes us in part.
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Mayor Francis Suarez introduces Lester Toledo, a Venezuelan opposition leader, during a news conference on efforts to support the Venezuelan democracy movement, July 22, 2019, in Miami. | Lynne Sladky/AP Photo | My grandfather was a political prisoner under [Fidel] Castro and his brother died in a Cuban jail. So we see the horrors of these authoritarian systems that enslave people and deprive them of their ability to have a prosperous future. THE RECAST: Talking about Trump here, the rhetoric he uses, calling out the judge about his Mexican heritage and …. [Before I could finish my question about Trump calling immigrants from Mexico rapists and bringing drugs, Suarez shrugged, emphatically.] Oh, you bring up tacos with the first lady but you shrug at the question about Trump’s rhetoric? SUAREZ: I'm not shrugging. This is what I’m saying: You're talking about two different people creating rhetoric, right? One of them is succeeding with Hispanics. The other one is not. The numbers speak for themselves. I'm not here to be a political commentator. He is who he is. I'm not going to change who he is. And his stuff will either work for the 2024 election, or someone else will provide a better option. Right now he's in the pole position. I think he's in a very strong position. I think the other side is in a very weak position. That's not prognosticating, that’s just objective based on polling and the things that you see.
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Miami Mayor Francis Suarez speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Friday, March 3, 2023, at National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Md. | Alex Brandon/AP Photo | THE RECAST: The reason I'm asking this is, Republicans have stated they are trying to grow the tent. They said this after the 2020 election. And you're saying, this guy may be helping grow the tent among Latinos? SUAREZ: I'm here, because I'm a Hispanic mayor, a Republican, who was considering running for president. Part of the reason why I'm considering running for president is because I think I can grow the tent — not for an election, but for a generation. I think it matters who is the communicator of ideas and how they communicate those ideas. You can look at my history and know that I'm someone who's a unifier. You can look at my history and see that I'm someone who appreciates the nuances in a variety of different Hispanic cultures. When I walk around the streets of not just Miami, but across the country, when I run into someone who is Hispanic, I engage with them, try to pick up the accents. It’s fun. That is part of that shared experience and I think it will be helpful at the policy level, I really believe that. Which is part of the reason why I'm considering [running]. And so when you look at the world, it's getting younger, in terms of leadership. I think that's an important dynamic. And I have to sell that vision. I think the race comes down to, on the Republican side, three options: the former president, the governor [DeSantis] and someone else. I think “the someone else” are people, many of them aren’t known, [who] have not yet captivated our people.
|  | | As you build the sort of prototypical, potentially captivating candidate, someone who can be generational — not just as a buzzword — but as someone who has proven to have a generational, disruptive impact on their [political] ecosystem, which I have. Someone who has a positive vision for the country — and I do think someone that's Hispanic — helps, because you do lean into that possibility of growing the party, by attracting more minorities. THE RECAST: When are you going to decide? SUAREZ: So I can't tell you a day. For someone who's unknown, like I am, someone who wants to come from zero — started from the bottom, now we’re here, right? [chuckles] You got to be in that Aug. 20 debate. You have five debates, which are the five great opportunities on a non-monetary basis to communicate with the country your ideas and your vision. You have to be there. I do think that time is of the essence, I've never been a procrastinator in my total life nor my political career. This is different because of the gravity of it. And frankly, there were some things that I wasn't sure how they were gonna play out, for example, the fact that the current governor of Florida decided to change the law so that he didn't have to resign to run. That’s part of it. And the other part of it is, you know, his shaky performance over the last few weeks … has been motivating, for sure. THE RECAST: What is your pitch to voters?
|  Mayor Francis Suarez speaks June 4, 2021, at the Bitcoin 2021 Convention in Miami. | Joe Raedle/Getty Images | SUAREZ: I think the pitch is that what we've done in our city is a prototype for American success. We've kept taxes low, we keep people safe and we lean into innovation. So I reduced taxes to the lowest level in history, while balancing my budget. We had 12 percent growth, the second-most growth in recorded history. With that I got more resources, and that I could focus on keeping people safe. We increase funding for our police department. I've been to inner cities across America. There isn’t an inner city that has told me, “We want less police officers.” They all complain that, frankly, the rich areas get more police officers than the poor areas. Last year — and this is a great story because it's a counter to what is happening in urban America — we had the lowest per-capita homicide rate since 1964. This year, we're 30 percent below that number. So these are record achievements and these are things that people care about in their communities. We've reduced poverty by 50 percent. [Editor’s note: According to a POLITICO analysis of U.S. Census data, Miami’s poverty rate decreased seven percent between 2017, when Suarez first took office, and 2021, the most recent year for which data is available.] We're No. 1 in wage growth. No. 1 in tech job (growth). We were ranked by the Financial Times as the most important city in America. We are captivating the nation in a pro-American agenda. THE RECAST: Going back to the race issue. You have to try to win early states. They’re not Miami. You have to win over a majority of white voters in very white states like Iowa and New Hampshire. So what is your pitch to those voters? | 
| SUAREZ: When I first ran for office — and I know it's hard to make a correlation between running for city council and running for president of the United States — but there’s a lot of similarities, because each state is its own little microcosm. I think part of the vision is, how is our country going to be competitive in a hyperdynamic and hyperdisruptive environment globally? How are we going to position ourselves to succeed? That’s what we did in Miami. We saw this generational disruption coming, which is the metamorphosis from a highly industrial economy to an increasingly digital economy, which provided a tsunami of opportunity. Rather than take cover, we took out our surfboards. ◆◆◆ Whoa, quite the week, don’t you think? Before we send you off for the weekend, The Recast wants to wish all those who celebrate Happy Mother’s Day. Now, onto the fun stuff. “Quietly Hostile,” Samantha Irby’s hotly anticipated new essay collection, is out Tuesday. Irby covers a range of subjects with hilarious honesty, from her love for Trader Joe’s to arguments with her sisters. The secret is out! The mystery celebrity memoir coming this July that caused an internet storm this week isn’t by Taylor Swift, but BTS. “Black Knight,” in which a dwindled population in post-apocalyptic Korea depends on specialized delivery drivers, the “Knights,” for survival, arrives on Netflix today.
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| Anuel AA, Dj Luian and Mambo Kingz release “Mejor Que Yo” and a vibey nighttime music video. “Hidden Letters,” a documentary about the secret Nüshu language — developed by women in China centuries ago — airs tomorrow at 8 p.m. on PBS. Another powerhouse trio: Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, and Shahzad Ismaily offer a transcendent Tiny Desk concert. In her racy new video, Janelle Monáe outs herself as a “Lipstick Lover.” (Note: NSFW.)
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