| | | | |  | | By Kimberly Leonard | |  Mayor of Miami Francis Suarez. | Drew Angerer/Getty Images | Good morning and welcome to Thursday. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez was the first Republican to drop out of the 2024 presidential race, but that hasn’t stopped him from envisioning lofty goals about his political future. The mayor is interested in a Cabinet or ambassador position in the Trump administration or in running for governor in 2026, he told Anne McElvoy, host of POLITICO’s “Power Play” podcast published today. The mayor also reiterated his interest in being Donald Trump’s running mate, saying anyone who didn’t admit the same was “probably not telling you the truth,” particularly given they’d have a “credible opportunity” to run for president in 2028. Suarez is mayor of the city of Miami, a municipality with roughly 450,000 people that’s housed in Miami-Dade County, a region of more than 2.7 million people whose mayor is Democrat Daniella Levine Cava. Suarez’s position is largely ceremonial. He’s also reported to be facing allegations of ethics violations and corruption, including over whether he received bribes from a local developer. Suarez denied that a federal criminal investigation was underway or that he had been contacted by federal investigators, calling it “manufactured by a local media outlet.” In the “Power Play” podcast conducted Monday, he predicted that he’d be cleared by what he called the “biased” Florida Commission on Ethics inquiry centering around his attendance at major sporting events. By Wednesday, he was. “The purpose is to inconvenience me,” Suarez told “Power Play.” “The purpose is to besmirch me because we're succeeding. And if someone is succeeding and they have a certain brand and they have a certain philosophy and ideology, then those who oppose that philosophy and ideology are threatened.” Asked to compare himself with GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis given his interest in the gubernatorial race, Suarez said he would have had a different approach to the faceoff with Walt Disney World over the state’s Parental Rights in Education Act, one critics derided as the “Don’t Say Gay” law because it barred instruction about gender identity and sexual orientation in public schools. “He could have banked the win of getting them to back down on opposing his policy of not teaching sexuality in public schools to young children and not gone beyond that,” Suarez said. “I think there's a place where you could have a kumbaya moment with the CEO, whoever that may be at the time, and say, ‘Hey, look, we agree we're not gonna get involved in this’ and the governor agrees he's not gonna penalize us or make it personal. And then you come and you announce a big investment.” Suarez, 46, whose father was the first Cuban-born mayor of Miami, endorsed Trump for president in 2024 even though he didn’t vote for Trump in 2020 and went to the Texas border in 2018 to protest his family separation policy. He voted for DeSantis-challenger Andrew Gillum, a Democrat, in 2018 and then switched to DeSantis in 2022. Asked what changed his position on Trump, Suarez said he was looking at the issue of immigration over four years, under two different presidents. “It's clear to all Americans that the border is not secure, creating a massive human trafficking problem at our border,” he said. “That's creating a tremendous amount of influx of illegal drugs and it's creating problems throughout the country.” Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget for Playbook? Get in touch at: kleonard@politico.com | | | | Easily connect with the right N.Y. State influencers and foster the right relationships to champion your policy priorities. POLITICO Pro. Inside New York. Learn more. | | | | | |  | ... DATELINE TALLAHASSEE ... | | | 
People demonstrate calling for the departure of Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Feb. 7, 2024. | Richard Pierrin/AFP/Getty Images | DEPLOYED — Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Wednesday morning that he directed Florida’s Division of Emergency Management, the Florida State Guard and state law enforcement to send 250 more officers and soldiers to Florida’s southern coast “to protect our state” from the possibility of Haitian migrants arriving there to escape violence at home. DeSantis also had the agencies send more than a dozen air and sea craft vessels, saying that Florida continued to “supplement the under-resourced U.S. Coast Guard’s interdiction efforts.” The governor’s office blamed the Biden administration as part of its announcement, saying migration was occurring “because of the federal government’s refusal to diligently enforce our immigration laws and protect the integrity of the border.” “We cannot have illegal aliens coming to Florida,” he wrote in a post on X. Where the migration patterns stand … “On March 8, the marine unit of the police in Turks and Caicos, just south of the Bahamas, said they had stopped a 25-foot power boat carrying 31 Haitian migrants in Northern Caicos. There were 22 men and nine women on board. Meanwhile, the [Miami-headquartered] Coast Guard’s 7th District … announced it had repatriated 65 Haitians from a distressed boat in the Bahamas on Tuesday,” reported the Miami Herald. WORKPLACE RIGHTS — “Florida protects student-athletes from heat. It hasn’t done the same for workers,” reports Nate Rosenfield of Grist. “More worker heat-safety bills have been filed in Florida than any other state, but none has made it past a single committee hearing. Florida is the hottest state in the country and has some of the highest rates of hospitalization due to heat illness, which kills more than 1,200 Americans a year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The number of workplace fatalities from heat has doubled since the 1990s, averaging over 40 workplace deaths a year for the last five years.” PLEASE HOLD — “Florida social services call center has second longest wait times in the country; $12 million might help,” reports Jackie Llanos of the Florida Phoenix. “On average, people have to wait 42 minutes to talk to an agent, and 44 percent of calls get abandoned.” SOCIAL MEDIA FEUD — “DeSantis starts spat with Libs of TikTok,” reports POLITICO’s Gary Fineout. DeSantis, who routinely slams Democrats and the “corporate media,” on Wednesday went after a one-time ally — @LibsofTikTok — the social media account run by conservative activist Chaya Raichik. DeSantis ripped into Raichik for “lying” about Florida law after she posted a link to a television news story about three undocumented migrants from Guatemala who are accused by Palm Beach counties authorities of forcing a woman into a car and sexually assaulting her. In her post on X, Raichik stated “apparently FL also gives illegals drivers licenses.” | | | PENINSULA AND BEYOND | |
A WHOLE NEW WORLD — “Shakeup continues at Disney district a year after takeover by DeSantis appointees,” reports The Associated Press’ Mike Schneider. “The shakeup of Walt Disney World’s governing district more than a year after it was taken over by DeSantis’ appointees continued Wednesday with the departure of [Martin Garcia], the board chairman who had been highly critical of Disney.”
PROTEST PUSHBACK — “Miami Beach officials vote to enact limits on protests, citing pro-Palestinian events,” reports the Miami Herald’s Aaron Leibowitz. “The Miami Beach City Commission voted unanimously Wednesday to support a resolution by Mayor Steven Meiner for the city to set ‘parameters for reasonable time, place and manner restrictions’ for protests, pointing to several pro-Palestinian demonstrations in the city in recent months. The resolution also calls for police to inform elected officials of all protests planned in the city within one hour of police learning a protest is expected to occur. It comes two days after police directed pro-Palestinian protesters to a “free speech zone” near the Aspen Ideas climate conference at the Miami Beach Convention Center, saying they could not stand directly outside the event’s entrance for security reasons.” EPSTEIN FILES — “Imprisoned British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell’s lawyer asked a federal appeals court Tuesday to toss out her sex trafficking conviction and 20-year prison sentence, saying Jeffrey Epstein’s 2007 non-prosecution deal with a U.S. attorney in Florida should have prevented her prosecution,” reports Larry Neumeister of The Associated Press IN DEPTH — “How onePulse broke Orlando’s heart,” by Amanda Rabines of the Orlando Sentinel. “In late 2019, Orlando’s onePulse Foundation unveiled a soaring design for a memorial and museum to the Pulse nightclub massacre, drawing international acclaim. Mere months later, its key players were grappling with a startling revelation. The project it had pitched – and was struggling to fund – at $45 million was now estimated to cost a staggering $100 million.” UNDONE — “How Florida State University quietly dismantled its diversity, equity and inclusion office,” reports Tarah Jean of the Tallahassee Democrat. “The university did it mainly by changing title names and reclassifying positions of employees who were already working in DEI to give them different roles — an approach that did not require laying anyone off.” | | | CAMPAIGN MODE | | |
EYE ON ‘28 — “The DeSantis 2028 shadow campaign,” by Marc Caputo of The Bulwark. “DeSantis is back to running Florida’s government. But he hasn’t really stopped running for president. Next month, DeSantis hosts a two-day presidential-donor gathering at the Hard Rock Hotel in South Florida that’s billed as—don’t call it a ‘fundraiser’ — an ‘Investor Appreciation Retreat.’ It’s the latest phase of an image makeover DeSantis started after he officially dropped out of the 2024 race on January 21 and endorsed Donald Trump.”
… “A brief aside on Casey DeSantis: There has been some speculation that she could run to succeed her husband as governor of Florida. The people I spoke with in his orbit think this is unlikely. ‘So Casey is going to run for governor in Ron’s last year and then Ron is going to run for president in Casey’s first year as governor and then, if he becomes president, they’ll live apart for two years and she’ll only serve one term? They’re not the Underwoods,’ said one.” TRENDING RED — “This could be a big deal in November. Here’s what’s driving Hispanic voters to the right,” reports Max Greenwood and Syra Ortiz Blanes of the Miami Herald. “In interviews with more than a dozen political consultants, party officials and experts, Republicans and even some Democrats described a broad realignment in Hispanic voters’ political leanings — one that goes beyond conservative-leaning Cuban Americans and largely favors the GOP and Trump. The rightward shift could have wide-ranging repercussions this fall, when Floridians will vote for president and U.S. Senate, and Miami-Dade voters will cast ballots in races for sheriff and elections supervisor, among other contests. Were Hispanic voters to more widely embrace Republicans, it would likely take the Sunshine State out of play for Democrats entirely and possibly usher in a new era of conservative leadership in Miami-Dade.” | | DATELINE D.C. | |
TIME TO MEET — Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) sent a letter to House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul (R-Texas) and Ranking Member Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) yesterday asking for a classified briefing about the escalating violence in Haiti.
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The bill now heads to the Senate. | Kiichiro Sato/ AP |
TIKTOK SHAKE UP — The House advanced a bill that could ban the popular app TikTok — bringing odd combinations of the Florida delegation into agreement.
Conservative Republican Reps. Matt Gaetz and Greg Steube joined progressive Democrat Rep. Maxwell Frost in voting against the bill. Democratic Rep. Lois Frankel was the only member in the delegation to miss the vote. Meanwhile, the rest of the delegation voted in favor of the bill, with Republican Reps. Kat Cammack, Carlos Gimenez, Neal Dunn, Cory Mills, Gus Bilirakis, and Vern Buchanan and Democratic Rep. Kathy Castor as co-sponsors. The legislation would not ban TikTok outright, but would require TikTok’s Beijing-based owner Bytedance to sell the app within six months. If they do not sell it, TikTok would be banned from U.S. app stores and websites. “Today we take a stand against the Chinese Communist Party and their efforts to turn content creators in America into foot soldiers for the CCP,” Cammack said on the House floor yesterday while debating the bill. The bill now heads to the Senate where its future is uncertain. But Florida’s senators Rick Scott and Marco Rubio have both expressed their own concerns with the app, with Rubio introducing a bill to ban the app earlier this year. Following the vote, Rubio posted on X encouraging people to message TikTok and urge them to sell the app. “Your freedom to create is at risk!” Rubio posted. — Mia McCarthy COMPLAINT — “FEC deadlocks on allegations that FPL broke the law by using Matrix conduits to hide political contributions to ‘ghost candidates,’” reports Dan Christensen of the Florida Bulldog. “The Federal Election Commission has deadlocked on a nonprofit anti-corruption group’s allegations that Florida Power & Light used a consultant’s network of obscure dark money nonprofits to conceal its political spending. The 3-3 deadlock became apparent Wednesday when Next Era Energy, FPL’s parent, said it was notified that the FEC ‘voted to close its file’ on the complaint alleging certain violations of the Federal Election Campaign Act.” | | | | JOIN US ON 3/21 FOR A TALK ON FINANCIAL LITERACY: Americans from all communities should be able to save, build wealth, and escape generational poverty, but doing so requires financial literacy. How can government and industry ensure access to digital financial tools to help all Americans achieve this? Join POLITICO on March 21 as we explore how Congress, regulators, financial institutions and nonprofits are working to improve financial literacy education for all. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | | | TRUMPLANDIA AND THE SWAMP | | | 
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump greets supporters at a campaign event in Laconia, New Hampshire on Jan. 22, 2024. | Matt Rourke/AP | IRL — “Donald Trump expected to attend Thursday hearing at the federal courthouse in Fort Pierce,” reports Melissa E. Holsman of Treasure Coast Newspapers. “Trump is expected to attend a court hearing Thursday in Fort Pierce in his federal case alleging the mishandling of classified documents after leaving the White House, a Monday court filing shows. The hearing at the Alto Lee Adams, Sr., U.S. Courthouse, 101 S. U.S. 1, begins at 10 a.m. before U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon, when Trump’s attorneys are scheduled to argue the criminal case should be thrown out. Trump’s presence Thursday isn’t required, but in asking for extra time to respond to pending motions, his lawyers on Monday indicated in a court filing that Trump and co-defendants Walt Nauta, his valet and bodyguard, and Carlos de Oliveira, property manager at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, would participate in the hearing.” | | | ODDS, ENDS AND FLORIDA MEN | |
FLORIDA EXIT — “The Boomers who tried moving to Florida and ended up in Appalachia,” by the Wall Street Journal’s Cameron McWhirter. “Drawn by lower housing costs and living expenses, lower taxes, lower insurance costs, low crime, warm weather (but with seasons) and less chance of hurricanes, an older, wealthier population is arriving and demanding a level of services from governments and businesses that neither had to provide in the past.”
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