Miami Mayor Francis Suarez enters the Republican presidential primary today. He filed the federal paperwork to run on Wednesday and will likely make an official announcement about his candidacy during a speech he will deliver at the Reagan Library in California Thursday night.

The question is why. Why did he jump in? What is his lane? He’s running in the not-Trump and not-DeSantis lane. It makes him the third candidate from Florida to run for the Republican nomination. He has no shot at the top spot but he may get a vice presidential spot on the eventual ticket, especially if it is Trump that is the nominee.

Can the presidential nominee and vice presidential nominee be from the same state? Yes. This question came up in 2000 when George W. Bush chose Dick Cheney as his running mate. Both men were living in Dallas at that time. Cheney made a show of going back to his home state of Wyoming and declaring residency there. There is nothing in the Constitution that prevents both candidates on the presidential ticket from being from the same state. It’s more of a practical matter. A presidential ticket usually strives to show geographic diversity.

The confusion comes from a misinterpretation of the Constitution. Article II, paragraph 3 states that “The electors … shall vote for two persons, of whom one at least shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves.” It’s a bit of unclear, but what it prohibits is an elector from casting both of his or her votes for candidates from the same state in which the elector lives.

I say he may be pursuing the vice presidential spot on the ticket because Kellyanne Conway – the first woman campaign manager to win a presidential race – told Politico in May that “I’ve not been shy about telling President Trump that Suarez should be on the short, short list for VP should Trump be the nominee.”

Suarez is young (45) and attractive. He’s good in interviews. He prides himself on unifying voters and growing the Republican tent. He has been elected twice as the Mayor of Miami. He is the son of Miami’s first Cuban-born mayor. Florida is the nation’s third-largest state and the Cuban vote is important. Cubans were reliably Republican voters until recent elections. Younger Cubans voters do not shy away from voting for Democrats. Suarez thinks he can grow the Hispanic vote, a growing demographic.

Here’s the kicker – Suarez voted against Trump in 2016 and 2020 and against DeSantis in 2018. He voted for Hillary, Biden, and Andrew Gillum. So, there’s that. He battled with DeSantis, he said, over COVID-19 restrictions. However, he did vote for DeSantis in 2022. Now he claims to be a unifier.

But he told POLITICO in May that he was considering a run for president “because I think I can grow the tent — not for an election, but for a generation. I think it matters who is the communicator of ideas and how they communicate those ideas. You can look at my history and know that I’m someone who’s a unifier. You can look at my history and see that I’m someone who appreciates the nuances in a variety of different Hispanic cultures.”

That was already done in Florida, though, and it was done by Ron DeSantis. He turned Florida bright red by appealing to a wide spectrum of voters and he turned Miami-Dade County red, too. Both DeSantis and Marco Rubio won Miami-Dade with 20 point margins, a Democrat stronghold. Suarez acknowledged that Trump and Republicans in general have a big opportunity with Cuban voters because Trump supported rolling back the policies Obama put in place for Cuba. Trump also unites voters across demographic categories. In other words, the unifier lane isn’t going to be Suarez’s alone.

The Mayor of Miami and the Mayor of Miami-Dade are two different positions. Rep. Carlos A. Gimenez, a former Mayor of Miami-Dade, said Wednesday he will never vote for Suarez because of his past votes for Democrats. Gimenez is a Cuban-born American and a big supporter of Trump. He was recently spotted playing golf with Trump at his National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey.

Suarez’s first priority as he goes about introducing himself to Republican primary voters is to raise money so he can get on the debate stage in August. He has a super PAC in place. It’s called SOS America and it will be spending at least $100,000 on digital ads in New Hampshire, Iowa, and Nevada. It is attacking Biden on law and order issues and pointing out that crime rates are down in Miami.

“America needs conservative Mayor Francis Suarez for President,” said SOS America PAC spokesperson Chapin Fay in a statement. “As our nation faces anti-police and pro-crime Democrat leadership in cities across the nation like Baltimore, Portland and New York City, the achievements of first-generation American Mayor Suarez underscore the need for immediate nationwide adoption of his approach.”

Another candidate in the race only helps Trump. The larger the field, the better for him. We’ll see how many make it to the debate stage in August.