Miami mayor may have national political ambitions (companies, school, financial)

[goolsbyjazz]

Hey all,

I recently came across this article about how Mayor Suarez could be tapped as a potential running mate for Nikki Haley if she decides to run in 2024. Aside from the politics, the article mentions his efforts to draw tech companies to the city making Miami a tech hub of sorts. Is that really happening? Elchevere, I think you would know something about this.

[elchevere]

I cannot speak for his National ambitions (wouldn’t mind seeing him replace Rubio as Senator), but might be able to speak a little bit about technology since I worked for Texas Instruments for 33 years.

So far a lot of talk and hype with some players (Rabois and Thiel) and some companies moving a few employees here or others creating future opportunities that will offer 100 high paying jobs along with some VC investment (SoftBank), but no corporate HQ relocations like others have seen (Oracle to Austin) or huge new facilities being built (Apple building a $1 Billion complex in North Carolina; Amazon opening HQ2 in NoVa). Big difference. I will start getting excited if and when a Google, Amazon, Microsoft, or other bellwether tech firm makes a significant commitment to the area.

I remain skeptical about the ability to draw such companies based on local, home grown talent in the absence of top notch STEM universities in the city and state....sorry, Canes and Gator graduates but academically your schools are not as highly regarded as Stanford, MIT, CalTech, Hopkins, Ivy’s, Duke, Carnegie Mellon, Michigan, UT Austin, etc. I do see some tech companies opening up smaller offices to have a presence in Miami, but do not see the city turning into another Austin or Seattle let alone making a dent in Silicon Valley. I could be proven wrong, but doubt it, though I do appreciate Suarez’s efforts.

I think Miami stands a better chance of attracting more financial firms and hedge funds to the area based on its already established financial companies presence here...(finance guys are also a lot cooler and drop more money on items that makes Miami great than socially awkward tech geeks).

The following is an article I came across that I agree with, pretty much because it hit on most of the points I just highlighted above. (I was able to read the full article the first time before a paywall surfaced when I tried accessing it a second time).

https://www.theinformation.com/artic...alley-to-miami

[blueherons]

I agree about Rubio being replaced but I think it's going to be hard for Nikki Haley to leap frog over DeSantis.

He's really the hot ticket right now.

[WrongStreet]

Suarez would be a good VP choice, but he may be a little too moderate for the current GOP and little-known outside Miami. He also has to compete with people that are currently more popular with the base, like DeSantis and Ted Cruz. I doubt DeSantis would pick him either, being that they're both from FL.