Presidential Candidate: Francis Suarez

Francis Suarez campaign website: It’s Time We Get Started (itstimewegetstarted.com)

By Ashley Bean Thornton

I have been summarizing the opening campaign speeches from the presidential candidates. I have been trying to sift through the campaign rhetoric to pick out what they are saying about what they actually plan to do if they are elected.

Francis Suarez talked more about what he has done as Mayor of Miami than about what he plans to do as president, so I had to extrapolate a little.  He seemed to be implying that what he has done in Miami is what he plans to do as president, so I treated his “have dones” as his “plans to do” to some extent for the purposes of the Presidential Candidate Comparison page.  

I have shortened and paraphrased some, but I tried to stick pretty close to his own words and to be fair in summarizing what I assume to be his platform for 2024.   I tried to include as much about how he plans to do these things as I was able to deduce from his speech.– ABT

• Here is the link I used – Francis Suarez Campaign Announcement – 6.15.2023
• Here is the link to the page where I compare these speeches by topic – Candidate Comparison – Dead Armadillo Politics (deaddillo.com)

What he says he has done (as mayor of Miami, FL)…

Economy – Miami just received an upgrade to its credit rating, making it the best rating in our history. Miami has built a growing economic base with sustainable surpluses and a disciplined approach to spending.  What a shocking word, “disciplined approach to spending.”

Taxes – In Miami we chose to cut our taxes to their lowest rate ever.

Employment – In Miami, we built a booming Tech economy that has generated high paying jobs with the lowest unemployment rate in the United States of America.

Police – In Miami we chose to increase funding for our police while other cities defunded them.

The result is Miami now has the lowest per capita murder rate since 1964.

Education – In Miami we chose to expand economic freedom by expanding educational freedom. We passed a Child Savings Account so that every elementary school student can benefit from gaining financial literacy skills for themselves and their parents at an early age.

We raised private sector dollars to create a first in family scholarship fund so any first-generation American living in Miami who seeks the American dream to attend college can live it.

We launched the Miami Charter School Network where the city of Miami and Miami-Dade College provided the space and accreditation for new charter schools to give parents more options for their children and to incentivize the integration of tech into education.

Homelessness – At one point Miami peaked with over 6,000 homeless, but today we’re down to 608. We found success through a holistic approach that former President George H.W Bush called a thousand Points of Light which emanate from private initiatives like Hermanos in Miami who have placed, just in the last two years, a thousand homeless straight into supportive permanent housing. We’ve put forth a program called functional zero with the goal to end chronic homelessness just like we ended veteran homelessness.

Happiness – My governing philosophy has been built on advancing happiness for all of my residents by protecting their life and expanding their liberties. This has led to Miami being ranked, you guessed it, the happiest city in America and the healthiest city in America.

What he says he will do…

Police – From president to Mayor, we must stand up for our police who have the hardest job in America.

Mental health – We cannot totally solve homelessness until we face our national mental health epidemic.  From mass shootings, to addiction and homelessness, we need to address mental health and critical care with new and innovative approaches that help people build the skills to avoid crisis.

China – We need a strategy that brings back American manufacturing from China, secures our borders and creates immigration policy that best serves our country’s goals.

Make no mistake China is not our partner. China is now our adversary. The latest figures show a trillion dollars of wealth are transferred annually through our trade deficit and the theft of our intellectual property. Communist China has used our wealth to undermine American power and Leadership across the world, but especially in our own hemisphere. China has weaponized our social media to unleash the most powerful Kryptonite against democracy, and we’re giving it to them folks, guess what — it’s division.