Mayor Francis Suarez will remain mayor of Miami, CNN projects.
The Republican mayor won re-election, clinching his second term.
“Today we embark on a new chapter. A journey together to finish what we started. To create the most fair and successful city in our country. To create a model that can be scaled into an agenda for America, bringing prosperity and peace, not only to Miami but to this entire nation,” Suarez said at an “Election Day Celebration” Tuesday.
Suarez was expected to win on Tuesday and defeated a field of four other candidates.
During his first term in office, Suarez sought to bring a new era of technology, innovation and entrepreneurship to Miami and welcomed up-and-coming industries such as cryptocurrency in the city.
The GOP mayor has been critical of former President Trump and at odds with Florida’s GOP governor Ron DeSantis, especially when it comes to Covid-19 policies. Suarez in August said he wouldn’t oppose mask mandates in schools amid rising Covid-19 cases, despite DeSantis’ attempts to block mask mandates in the state.
In his speech Tuesday night, Suarez said “we’re not decreasing funding for our police, we’re increasing funding for our police,” “eliminating homelessness,” “taking care of our cultural facilities,” “giving every child an opportunity to succeed no matter where they’re born,” and “creating city charter schools.”
He also talked about his vision to create a transit system, focus on climate and emphasized maintaining low taxes.
“We are going to do this by being united, not divided,” Suarez said. “We’re gonna do this by being humble. We’re gonna do this by working hard. We’re gonna do this by not caring who gets the credit and by ignoring the haters.”
