Finally, the Republican presidential “winnowing” process is underway: Miami Mayor Francis Suarez was the first of the duds to announce, on Tuesday, that he will suspend his presidential campaign. That frees his zero percent of supporters to flock to a new candidate. To whom will they go?

Suarez was left with little choice but to drop out after he didn’t make the Aug. 23 debate, having previously said that candidates shouldquit if they don’t make the debate. (The Suarez campaign claimed that it met the donor threshold for the stage but couldn’t meet the polling requirement, and blamed that in part on his not being included in enough surveys.)

Popular in News & Politics

1. We’ve Been Entertaining an Illusion About the Supreme Court. It’s Finally Been Shattered.
2. A Supreme Court Justice Gave Us Alarming New Evidence That He’s Living in MAGA World
3. Them Supreme Court Boys Are at It Again
4. In a Week Full of Hypocrites, Greg Abbott Came Close to Winning the Crown

But it took him a few days. The Suarez campaign, as NBC News reported Monday, went dark after missing the debate. The candidate hasn’t held any events since Aug. 17. His Twitter account was silent. His super PAC’s spending slowed to a trickle.

On Tuesday, Suarez took NBC News’ hint and officially announced the end of his candidacy with an exceptionally long post. He had pitched his 10-week candidacy on creating a diverse, youthful, forward-looking Republican Party that stopped nominating terrifying figures—the kind that like to frighten voters by staring at them from the inside of 7-Eleven freezers—in every important election.

“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,” he said. “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.”

Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement

Yeah, well, a lot of people should do a lot of things.

Related From Slate

Ben Mathis-Lilley

Weird Flex: Why do presidential candidates keep bragging about middling fitness accomplishments.

Read More

What were the highlights of Suarez’s campaign? There were, as we recall, two (2) things that happened.

• He had a funny exchange with Hugh Hewitt in which Hewitt asked him about the plight of the Uyghurs in China. Suarez was all “Hugh, what the hell did you just say?” Later, Suarez would clean up by saying that of course he knows about the plight of the Uyghurs, and it was just that he didn’t recognize the pronunciation that Hewitt used.

• Suarez did meet the debate donor threshold, and he did participate in gimmicks to get there. His campaign entered donors into a raffle for tickets to Lionel Messi’s debut game with Inter Miami, while his super PAC offered donors a chance at free tuition.

Otherwise, that’s—oh, oh, there was a third!

• His super PAC also created a chatbot, AI Francis Suarez, that you could ask questions. I asked it a few just now, including “Are you still running for president?,” “Is Francis Suarez running for president?,” and “Did you suspend your campaign?” AI Suarez went right into stock answers about who Francis Suarez was and why he was running for president. These crooked A.I. politicians—you can’t get a straight answer out of ’em.

Who will drop out next? It could be a couple of other candidates who didn’t make the debate, like Perry Johnson or Larry Elder, although their very entries into the race suggested that they are not rational actors. Those unknowns who only barely made the debate, like Asa Hutchinson and Doug Burgum, could be next. Among those with major name recognition who are getting little traction, though, it’s typically a matter of when the money runs out. So, I’d encourage you to look at the Q2 “ending cash on hand” field at the bottom of this particular campaign finance report.

Tweet Share Share Comment

• Donald Trump
• Florida
• Republicans
• 2024 Campaign
• Ron DeSantis