Miami Mayor Francis Suarez appears ready to drop out of 2024 race

Longshot 2024 Republican presidential candidate Francis Suarez suggested Friday that he is prepared to end his campaign for the White House if he fails to qualify for the first GOP primary debate later this month. 

“If you can’t meet the minimum thresholds, you shouldn’t be trying to take time and volume away from people that do,” the 45-year-old mayor of Miami told reporters at the Iowa State Fair.

“I don’t think candidates should just sort of linger around if they don’t have a credible path,” he added. 

Suarez is in jeopardy of not qualifying for the Aug. 23 debate in Milwaukee.

He contends that he’s met the Republican National Committee’s fundraising requirements for the debate —  having at least 40,000 unique donors and at least 200 per state — but it does not appear as though he’s hit the RNC’s polling threshold of registering at least 1% support in two national polls and two early voting state surveys. 

“I think the minimum threshold is fair,” Suarez said. “One of the things that I think is a bit unfair is that there’s a lot of polls that I haven’t been in, and it’s a disadvantage.” 

Despite the uphill climb Suarez faces, he appeared confident that he would not only qualify for the first debate but the second one in September as well, which has stricter requirements, including a polling threshold of 3%. 

“I think I’ll come out of that debate already making the next debate threshold,” Suarez said of how he expects to perform in Milwaukee. 

“I’ve been a national figure for 60 days,” he added. “So, fortunately for me, you’re sort of new, so you have a different threshold, a different time frame, and we’re going to have to compete at the same level.”

Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, 72, who hasn’t met the fundraising requirements, and Michigan businessman Perry Johnson, 75, who hasn’t hit the polling minimums, join Suarez as candidates in danger of not getting a debate podium nod. 

Conservative radio talk show host Larry Elder, 71, and former Texas Rep. Will Hurd, 45, have failed to meet any of the RNC’s debate requirements.