If you’re an interesting and accomplished but not-well-known local official, like Miami mayor Francis Suarez, there is almost no downside, and almost all upside, to declaring that you’re thinking about running for president in 2024. (Because Republicans don’t have enough Floridians thinking about running this coming cycle, right?)
This does not mean Suarez will necessarily run. Mayors have a hard time getting elected president — just ask Mike Bloomberg, Cory Booker, Bernie Sanders, John Hickenlooper, Martin O’Malley, and Dennis Kucinich, on the Democratic side, or Rudy Giuliani on the GOP side. You have to go back to Calvin Coolidge to find a president who served as mayor earlier in his career.
But teasing a presidential campaign is an easy way for a politician to tell the world, “hey, I am someone who deserves your attention.”