Miami Mayor Francis Suarez is one of the most popular politicians in Florida right now. He may have been on the ropes just a few months ago, but due to his response to the COVID19 pandemic — and, no doubt, darling media role as Patient Zero — his approval ratings are through the roof, according to a recent poll by the University of North Florida.
So it’s only natural that his papa, Miami-Dade Commissioner “Mayor Sir” Xavier Suarez, who was the first Cuban-born mayor of Miami 
from 1985 to 1993, take advantage of his son’s surging support in his own campaign for county mayor.
Suarez the elder has been mentioning Baby X in forums and meetings for weeks, most recently at the Kendall Democratic Club meeting Wednesday.
“I think the mayor of the city and the mayor of the county should be able to work together,” he told them and repeated to Ladra Thursday. “The mayor of the city and the mayor of the county have to get along. The pandemic is only one example. You saw the confusion with the different policies and the airport.”
He means Miami government’s COVID19 response and the county’s, led by Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez. Baby X and Grimenez have been at odds since the beginning, when the county mayor criticized Son of Suarez for shutting down the Ultra Music Festival and Calle Ocho, even though he himself later had to cancel the Youth Fair and other county activities. They’ve also battled on the airport: Francis Suarez wants restrictions on passenger flights coming in from COVID hotspots and Gimenez basically says ‘hands off, that airport’s mine.’ The two also differ on how to open up the local economy after three months of social distancing and #saferathome.
Read related: Miami and Miami-Dade mayor battle again, this time over MIA and COVID19
This week, a billboard went up above the barbecue place on Southwest 8th Street with both father and son at podiums on either side under the headline “Two generations of leaders.”
At first, it seems like an ad for Baby X. His is the more prominent image, pointing out to the viewer with a sly, knowing smile on 
the young stud’s drop-dead gorgeous face while his older dad looks off to the distance and — dare I say? — confused. But the name under the headline is Xavier Suarez and the billboard is paid for by his political action committee, Imagine Miami.
“Independence. Integrity. Idealism,” follows underneath, like a tag line, superimposed over a photo of the Miami skyline and a glowing MetroRail. It’s a great message at a perfect time. Suarez the elder just should have used a better photo. Like this one below, maybe.
But perhaps junior’s prominence is intentional, since the April poll by the University of North Florida and Public Opinion Research Lab puts Son of Suarez at a 68% approval 
rating among Miami residents. Only 15% said they disapprove of the mayor, giving him a net +53 approval rating in terms of managing the coronavirus pandemic crisis.
Xavier Suarez also reported his own high approval numbers in his own internal poll earlier this month. Because the apple doesn’t far fall from the tree, right? This father/son relationship, which would sound like a weakness because voters have time and again rejected such cross jurisdictional dynasties, might already be working for Papi Suarez.
Or it could backfire — if Baby X does something stupid again.
Sure, he’s been popular lately, but Francis Suarez was on the political ropes before he was the second person in Miami-Dade to test positive for COVID19, which may have saved him. He lost the strong mayor initiative because he over reached. He pushed too hard, like a paid lobbyist, on the Miami Freedom Park real estate deal disguised as a soccer stadium. He lost his trusted, chosen city manager and was forced to hire the man handpicked by a new commission power coalition that included his ardent foe, Commissioner Joe Carollo, who brought up his salary and his employment at a law firm at almost every commission meeting for months. His communications director was charged with child pornography. He practically lost his veto power to a rogue city attorney 
working on behalf of Carollo. And he got spanked hard on that Miami 21 amendment revision that led to a settlement with Magic City Casino over their new planned location in Edgewater.
He was feeling the heat.
Read related: Joe Carollo vs Francis Suarez continues; Miami mayor says he’ll back recall
But those items haven’t come up lately. Not since the COVID19 fever struck City Hall and each of the commissioners was quarantined for 14 days to make sure Baby X hadn’t infected them. Not since the meetings started to be more controlled because they are remote. Not since he became a national media darling on the coronavirus because of his personal experience and his government’s response.
And during this cooling off period, Mayor Suarez seems have gotten under the protection of his new BFF, Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla, a Carollo ally who led the coup and who traveled to Paris with the mayor and has recently been at food giveaways and other public events with him.
Ladra wonders if that means The Dean, who is more simpatico with Bovo, will help X in the mayoral run.
Xavier Suarez leans on son Francis Suarez’s surging support in campaign added by Ladra on
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