Vote Chompers

Did Miami Mayor Francis Suarez wait for me to visit his city to announce his candidacy for the presidency of the United States? Probably not, but he did wait for Trump to leave town before he did.

Here’s a fun fact: No U.S. mayor has ever ascended directly to the presidency and the United States has only had three former mayors be elected to serve in the White House, Andrew Johnson, Grover Cleveland, and Calvin Coolidge.

Mayors have better luck outside the United States when aspiring for their nation’s highest office such as Recep Erdogağan who became Turkey’s president after being mayor of Istanbul, Andrés Manuel López Obrador who went from leading Mexico City to his nation’s highest office (in case you’re a Republican, that nation is Mexico), Mauricio Macri going from the mayorship of Buenos Aires to the presidency of Argentina, and Boris Johnson who was the mayor of London before becoming Prime Minister.

Despite the long odds, we’ve seen candidacies from mayors Rudy Giuliani and Pete Buttigieg. And now Mayor Suarez is attempting to succeed where they both failed. In doing so, he will have to defeat his own governor, Ron DeSantis, and Florida winter resident Donald Trump who only confronts the Florida heat on arraignment days.

Most mayors of large cities are Democrats as voters in cities tend to be more highly educated and intelligent than bumpkin voters (Several Miami residents I talked to said not to lump their city in with the rest of their yeehaw state), yet Miami elected Republican Suarez. Miami does have a large population of Cuban Americans who tend to vote Republican, and Suarez is a moderate Republican whose father also served as mayor of Miami. He is the first mayor not to be born in Cuba since 1996. As mayor, he’s worked to protect his city against climate change which is unique since most Republicans don’t believe in climate change.

Suarez says he didn’t vote for Ron DeSantis in 2018, instead, voting for Democrat Andrew Gillum. He also says he didn’t vote for Donald Trump in 2020, but did vote for DeSantis in 2022 which raises serious questions about his judgment.

Florida now has more presidential candidates than South Carolina where moderate Republicans don’t exist. That state has two longshot candidates in former governor Nikki Haley and Senator Tim Scott. Gators eat gamecocks, but I did see chickens and roosters on the sidewalks of Miami.

I was hoping to see a wild iguana during my visit. Iguanas have escaped as pets and are now an invasive species in Florida (so are pythons and boas), and they’re often sighted on the streets of Miami. I just wanted to see one but all I got were chickens and MAGAts. Of course, I didn’t expect to see any gators in the city but if I had, I would have found them more intelligent and interesting than all the MAGAts there was no shortage of. Fun fact: Gators don’t vote for Republicans but do find them delicious. It’s all the blubber and they don’t have to digest too many teeth.

I’m sure Mayor Suarez would make a much better president than the rest of the GOP field, but I’d still rather vote for Chompers.

Creative note: This cartoon was drawn entirely on a train.

Miami: Elvis has left the building and I’ve left Miami. I’m on an Amtrak again and I’m currently in Sebring, Florida. I came down to cover the arraignment of Donald Trump and it was wild. There is a Miami Sketch Book on this site, consisting of sketches, photos, and videos which can only be seen by those who have contributed to my trip. You can be one of those by making a contribution through PayPal at clayjonz@gmail.com. Any and all amounts are helpful and appreciated. You rock!

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Notes on my book, Tales From The Trumpster Fire: There are 19 copies of my book in stock, which go for $45.00 each, signed. Also, I have copies of my first book from 1997, Knee-Deep in Mississippi available for $20.00.

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