OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
A week after being disqualified from the first Republican presidential nomination debate, Miami, Florida, Mayor Francis Suarez announced on Tuesday that he was ending his campaign for the White House.
Suarez is the first Republican presidential candidate to withdraw from the 2024 race, and he was the only significant Latino contender for the GOP nomination.
Suarez stressed in his statement that he “will continue to amplify the voices of the Hispanic community — the fastest-growing voting group in our country. The Left has taken Hispanics for granted for far too long, and it is no surprise that so many are finding a home in America’s conservative movement. Our party must continue doing more to include and attract this vibrant community that believes in our country’s foundational values: faith, family, hard work and freedom. Younger voters, Independents, urban voters and suburban women- all of whom I’ve carried in previous elections — among others, should find a comfortable home in the GOP and its policies.”
One of the last contenders to enter the race was the mayor, who started his improbable campaign for the presidential nomination in June.
He was one of a select group of candidates who didn’t take the stage during the Milwaukee, Wisconsin debate on Wednesday, which was moderated by Fox News.
Suarez stated in an interview with Fox News Digital two weeks ago that candidates who do not advance to the decisive Milwaukee debate “shouldn’t stay in the race.” New Hampshire is a crucial early-voting state.
Suarez, who is not well-known outside of South Florida, emphasized that “for someone like me, it’s critical” that he participate in the debate.
When asked what was next if he didn’t qualify for the debate, Suarez pointedly noted that “if a candidate doesn’t make the debate stage, doesn’t make the minimum thresholds, they shouldn’t stay in the race.”
“It’s very hard to get to a higher threshold to make the second debate if you’re not even on the first debate,” he highlighted. “I think any candidate that doesn’t make the first debate should think long and hard about it because time is valuable and you shouldn’t be taking time — or trying to take away time from people who are fighting to get their message out there.”
JUST IN: Miami Mayor Francis Suarez has suspended his presidential campaign. pic.twitter.com/TgxztIsEje
— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) August 29, 2023
Despite a wave of indictments in Manhattan, Washington, D.C., Georgia, and southern Florida, former President Donald Trump’s popularity continues to rise, as noted in a brand-new survey.
After Trump’s latest indictment last week in Fulton County, Trump pulled out to “his largest lead over his rivals” according to the latest CBS News polling.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is the next closest rival, the network reported, though he’s not really close at 16 percent compared with Trump’s 62 percent. All other GOP primary contenders are in single digits.
CBS News added: “Trump voters’ affinity for him seems to insulate the former president from attacks whether or not he debates this week because voters basically say they aren’t receptive to such criticism. Instead, a whopping nine in 10 GOP primary voters want the other candidates to focus on making the case for themselves, but not against Trump.”
Meanwhile, Trump’s ‘mugshot heard ’round the world’ has set off a firestorm of support that extends beyond the traditional Republican Party voter base and has led to a fundraising haul in the millions of dollars.
Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for the MAGA Inc. PAC, told Breitbart News over the weekend that the mugshot taken and released by the Fulton County Sheriff’s Department after Trump was arrested and booked on Thursday over “racketeering” charges related to the 2020 election, has “rallied the American people across the political spectrum.”
“You could absolutely see the defiance in President Trump’s eyes and in his face in that mug shot, and it really has rallied the American people across the political spectrum now,” Leavitt told Breitbart News Saturday host Matthew Boyle on SiriusXM.
We are now seeing a seismic shift in disapproval for Joe Biden and support for President Trump. There was a new poll released yesterday that shows Donald Trump dominating Joe Biden in the general election,” Leavitt added.
“And there’s been a bunch of polls that show the same thing. And I think that the Democrats have overplayed their hands with all of these witch hunts and indictments of Donald Trump,” she added.
She went on to point out the support that Trump received as his motorcade transited some poorer neighborhoods in Atlanta on his way to be arrested.
Meanwhile, the mugshot appears to have backfired tremendously against Democrats while also serving as a boon to his campaign.
In the 24-hour period after the mugshot was released late Thursday, Trump’s campaign raked in more than $7.1 million, according to Breitbart News.
