Miami Mayor Francis Suarez raised nearly $1 million in the first two weeks of his campaign for the presidency, but the real strength in his bid is in the more than $12 million generated by two super political action committees supporting his candidacy.
Suarez would not say how close he is to meeting the 40,000-donor threshold to make the first Republican National Committee-sponsored debate in Milwaukee next month, and he has polled no higher than 1% in any national poll.
Still, the two-term mayor announced his candidacy June 15, giving him just two weeks to raise the $1 million. “Having just got started, we will meet the RNC limits for the first debate,” he tweeted Friday. A Cuban-American, Suarez is the only Latino in the race.
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About three quarters of his disclosed contributions have come from Florida, many from the Miami legal and real estate industries. He also received the maximum $3,300 contribution from billionaires Leonard Blavatnik of Access Industries and Cantor Fitzgerald’s Howard Lutnick.
His biggest patron has been Ken Griffin, the Citadel Securities founder who moved his firm from Chicago to Miami last year and whose continued support could be crucial for an extended Suarez run.
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The billionaire hedge fund manager contributed $1 million to Miami for Everyone, one of the two political action committees supporting Suarez’s candidacy, in March. The other super PAC, SOS America, has not yet revealed its donors but said Friday it had raised $7.3 million.
Griffin also supported Ron DeSantis’s reelection as Florida governor last year. He hasn’t indicated whom he would support for president, saying he’s continuing to assess the candidates.
(Corrects to remove Ken Griffin’s rationale for relocating.)
