Miami Mayor Francis Suarez filed paperwork Wednesday to launch his bid for the Republican presidential nomination, throwing his hat into the ring a day after GOP front-runner Donald Trump appeared in court on federal charges in Suarez's city.

Thursday evening, he ventured to the heart of West Coast conservatism to make his first public speech as a candidate: the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, in Simi Valley, Calif. And he did so in a speech that was critical of President Joe Biden's policies, and the rhetoric of his Republican competitors for the presidency.

"It is time for a next generation leader who has the vision to lead and the character to connect with everyone by looking at them in the eyes and listening to them. Not shouting at them and lecturing them. It is time for a leader with a record of real results — not just rhetoric — who believes with all his heart in the American dream, who wants to share it with everyone regardless of race, religion, or complexion," Suarez said.

Suarez's speech included sections in both English and Spanish, and tied in themes he explored in a video posted to Twitter on Thursday morning, announcing his candidacy. In that video, and in his speech, Suarez touted his record on issues like the city's economy, low unemployment and reducing homelessness. Suarez also criticized the current state of infighting in Washington.

"My dad taught me that you get to choose your battles, and I am choosing the biggest one of my life," Suarez said. "I’m going to run for president, I’m going to run for your children and mine. Let’s give them the future they deserve. It’s time to take things into our own hands. It’s time to get things started."

But Suarez faces long odds, with little name recognition outside of the state of Florida — not to mention that two other Sunshine State residents, Trump and DeSantis, are leading the polls by a wide margin, and have racked up plenty of endorsements in the state already.

"Endorsements are key in winning the primary because you need to win all of these different states, or at least get a plurality of them," Todd Belt, a professor and political management program director at George Washington University, told Spectrum News. "And if you can't even get the endorsements in your own state, that's pretty difficult to try to then say, 'Oh, I am electable to people in other states' when you can't even deliver your own."

And while the Republican Party made inroads with Hispanics and Latinos in Florida in the 2022 election, the GOP has found difficulty building on gains it made with Hispanic and Latino voters in the 2010s, according to a recent analysis.

Other prominent figures vying for the GOP nomination include former Vice President Mike Pence, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, though the race is widely seen as a two-man race between the two Floridian frontrunners.

Belt told Spectrum News that people may have a hard time identifying Suarez.

"I think a lot of people are going to be asking 'Francis who?' And that's certainly what he's going to have to answer to a lot of people in Iowa and New Hampshire, and frankly, all around the country," said Todd Belt, a professor and political management program director at George Washington University.

Belt says that, historically, mayors have not fared well in presidential primaries compared to governors and senators.

"One of the reasons for that is they just don't have the type of contacts to people across the United States who can deliver states," he said.

Suarez, the president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, is the son of Miami's first Cuban-born mayor. He has gained national attention in recent years for his efforts to lure companies to Miami, with an eye toward turning the city into a crypto hub and the next Silicon Valley.

Suarez did not vote for Trump in the last two presidential cycles. But times have changed, with Trump advisers now praising Suarez’s work and helping him promote what he calls “the Miami success story.”

There has also been chatter that Trump could select Suarez as a running mate if the former president wins the GOP nomination. Trump’s former White House counselor Kellyanne Conway has even floated Suarez’s name as a possible vice presidential pick.

Suarez, who is married with two young children, is a corporate and real estate attorney who previously served as a city of Miami commissioner, and is the son of Xavier Suarez, Miami's first Cuban-born ayor. He has also positioned himself as someone who can help the party further connect with Hispanics. In recent months, he has made visits to early GOP voting states as he weighed a possible 2024 campaign.

He is more moderate than DeSantis and Trump, but has threaded the needle carefully on cultural issues that have become popular among GOP politicians.

Suarez has been critical of DeSantis, dismissing some of the state laws he has signed on immigration as “headline grabbers” lacking in substance. He has said immigration is an issue that “screams for a national solution” at a time when many Republicans back hard-line policies.

The two-term mayor previously expressed support for a Florida law championed by DeSantis, dubbed “Don’t Say Gay,” that bans classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity in kindergarten through third grade, but he has not specified whether he supported the expansion of the policy to all grades. Like other Republicans, Suarez has criticized DeSantis’ feud with Disney over the same law, saying it looks like a “personal vendetta.”

Further ingratiating himself with the Trump team, Suarez has echoed Trump’s attacks on DeSantis’ demeanor, saying the governor doesn’t make eye contact and struggles with personal relationships with other politicians.

In 2020, the mayor made a play to attract tech companies to Florida after the state relaxed its COVID-19 restrictions. He met with Big Tech players and investors such as PayPal founder Peter Thiel and tech magnate Marcelo Claure, began appearing on national television and was profiled by magazines.

Suarez, who has said he takes his salary in Bitcoin, has also hosted Bitcoin conferences and started heavily promoting a cryptocurrency project named Miami Coin, created by a group called City Coins.

But the hype dissipated as virus restrictions eased elsewhere, eliminating Miami’s advantage on the COVID-19 front. Suarez’s vision also hit roadblocks with the collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, which was set to move its U.S. headquarters to Miami’s financial district before its founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas last December.

FTX, the only cryptocurrency exchange that traded Miami Coin, suspended its trading, citing liquidity problems. Ultimately, the coin did not live up to its promise to generate enough money to eliminate city taxes.

Miami also ranks among the worst big U.S. cities for income inequality and has one of the least affordable housing markets.