MIAMI — Xavier L. Suarez, the current Miami mayor’s father and a former mayor, is among the 13 candidates running for Miami mayor on Nov. 4.
Suarez, 76, served as Miami mayor from 1985 to 1993 and from 1997 to 1998. He also served as the Miami-Dade commissioner who represented District 7 from 2011 to 2020.
“I am one of the few that understands the models for transportation, demographics, finance,” Suarez said.
Suarez, who was born in Cuba, earned a law degree from Harvard University after earning a master’s degree in public policy and a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Villanova University.
“I am running out of books to write. I am on my 10th book ... I have a lot of energy, a lot of experience, and I don’t have to take care of kids anymore,” said Suarez, who has 11 grandchildren.
On immigration, Suarez said he wants to stay away from anything that looks like Miami police officers are acting as federal immigration agents. He also said he doesn’t like some of the ways immigration law has been enforced nationwide.
“At the same time, when I was in the county, the issue came up in connection with what happens when we detain someone. It was more of a financial issue and we reached an agreement at the commission level that there is a certain amount of cooperation and compensation back to local government,” Suarez said.
On youth crime in Miami, Suarez said it mostly depends on employment, and he said that after speaking to Luther “Uncle Luke” Campbell, he decided to support after-school programs and vocational programs.
“Some of the people in the minority groups have shied away from the vocational programs because the idea is, ‘Well, you know, we don’t want to steer kids away from college into trades.’ But actually, that’s something that everybody really should be doing,” Suarez said.
The Brickell neighborhood resident also said he supports Stronger Miami, an initiative in support of city redistricting and having nine city commissioners instead of five.
Related link: Campaign page
Related document: Affidavit of candidate (.PDF)
OTHER MAYORAL CANDIDATES
The other candidates in the nonpartisan race are Alex Díaz de la Portilla, Alyssa Crocker, Christian E. Cevallos, Miami-Dade Commissioner Eileen Higgins, Elijah John Bowdre, Emilio González, Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo, June Savage, Kenneth DeSantis, Ken Russell, Laura Anderson, and Michael A. Hepburn.
Name recognition: In September, Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is not related to Kenneth DeSantis, endorsed González, a retired U.S. Army Colonel and fellow Republican.
Carollo, a former Metro Dade police officer, served as a city commissioner, a city vice mayor, and two terms as Miami mayor from 1996 to 1997 and from 1998 to 2001.
Legal trouble: De La Portilla is a former Miami commissioner who served from 2020 to 2023 when Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended him over a corruption case that prosecutors later dropped.
Carollo, who lives near Little Havana, has an arrest record. In 2001, police officers arrested him for domestic violence, and prosecutors dropped the case after he agreed to attend anger management classes.
Later in 2023, a federal jury in civil court sided with two businessmen who won $63.5 million in damages against Carollo for “weaponizing” city employees to violate their rights after they supported one of his political opponents.
INTERACTIVE GRAPHIC
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