‘I certainly have considered it’: Francis Suarez still interested in a Governor’s run, but…

Francis Suarez works to keep his legacy project alive. Image via AP.

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez is again talking about a potential run for Governor.

Suarez said that while a bid for Governor would be tougher with Donald Trump’s endorsement belonging to Byron Donalds, he hasn’t tossed the prospect altogether.

“I’m not saying I’m completely not considering it. I certainly have considered it,” he said at an Axios/The Race event ahead of this past weekend’s Formula 1 Grand Prix at Hard Rock Stadium.

The two-term Mayor added that because Trump already “weighed in on the Governor’s race in a way that makes it hard” for other GOP candidates to compete, he may ultimately seek “other ways to serve.”

Suarez’s Thursday comments are hardly the first time he flirted with a gubernatorial bid. In September 2023, just under a month after ending a short-lived presidential campaign, he told CBS News Miami’s Ivan Taylor that “running for Governor is something that would interest” him.

Last July, while speaking with Tom Llamas of NBC News, Suarez talked about it again.

“One thing that would be interesting is looking at an ecosystem like the state of Florida, potentially running for Governor,” he said.

Suarez endorsed Trump for President in March 2024, saying on X that Trump would “coherently lead our country forward.”

At the time, Trump had not yet selected a running mate, and his Cabinet selections were still months from being named. Suarez’s name has not appeared on any published short lists for either; however, the Miami Mayor was among the South Florida leaders who attended the President’s second inauguration in January.

Polling has repeatedly shown that Trump’s Feb. 20 endorsement of Donalds catapulted the Congressman to the front of the Republican pack.

Another top seed GOP figure rumored to be mulling a run, First Lady Casey DeSantis, has seen her star dwindle amid questions about whether her Hope Florida charity illegally mishandled $10 million in Medicaid settlement funds.

Suarez holds a “weak Mayor” position, meaning his office provides little administrative muscle other than being able to issue vetoes and hire and fire the City Manager. He twice attempted, unsuccessfully, to shift to a strong Mayor form of government that would grant him executive powers.

Instead, his role is largely as a figurehead, and it’s one he’s leveraged to convince myriad tech and finance companies from the West Coast and New York City to uproot their headquarters for sunny South Florida.

His success on that front in 2021 helped him secure a second four-year term with 79% of the vote. Bipartisan plaudits that year also earned him a place in Fortune magazine’s list of the “World’s 50 Greatest Leaders.”

He’s also been the subject of local, state and federal investigations over his use of city resources, various side jobs — the Mayor’s post is a part-time position — and work for a developer whom the Securities and Exchange Commission last year charged for perpetuating a $93 million fraud scheme.

To date, none of the probes found any wrongdoing on Suarez’s part.