Fred “Who?” Voccola could be a Francis Suarez reboot for Miami mayor’s race

Looks like there’s a new kid sniffing around the mayor’s race. Well, not exactly a kid — he’s 51 — but definitely new to Miami’s political playground.
Fred Voccola, a tech bro with a billion-dollar company under his belt and its name on the arena where the Miami Heat play, is suddenly flirting with a run for city mayor. Why? Because he’s sooooo frustrated with corruption and “all this crap that goes on in City Hall.”
Ladra has to ask: Was it really the city’s failed stunt to delay the election, as he says, that finally pushed him over the edge? Or was it Mayor Francis Suarez whispering in his ear? You know? One tech bro to another.
Because this smells a little like a Baby X recruitment project. Suarez, who is termed out, needs someone to protect his “legacy” as the crypto-tech mayor and see his pet projects through. And while his dad has indicated an intention to run, former Miami-Dade Commissioner Xavier Suarez, who was also the first Cuban-born mayor of Miami, is just too old school.
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And he also knows that papi is an underdog among the known potential candidates, who include current Miami-Dade Commissioner Eileen Higgins, former Miami Commissioner Ken Russell, former Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla — who was suspended after his 2023 arrest on public corruption bribery and money laundering charges that were later dropped, but lost a re-election bid to Miguel Gabela — and former City Manager Emilio Gonzalez, the one who sued the city to get the cancelled mayoral and commission races back on the ballot. Francis is all about Francis.
So, who better than another wealthy “outsider” who buys into the Miami-as-Dubai fantasy?
After all, they do seem to admire each other. Suarez even had Voccola on his Cafecito Talk podcast three years ago. You can still see it on the mayor’s X feed.
Voccola says he can’t be bought. “Ain’t nobody gonna bribe me,” he told The Miami Herald last month, bragging that there isn’t enough money in the world. That might be easy to say, however, when you’re the co-founder and CEO (he just stepped down in January) of a software company with more than $1.5 billion in revenue had have personally parked $200,000 (or so he says) in your very own political action committee, Leadership for Miami’s Future, which filed paperwork with the state division of election last month, but was first called Moving Miami Forward.
He even dared people to try. Cute. But Miami doesn’t do cute — it does complicated. It likes messy.
The would be candidate, who sounds like a Francis Suarez reboot, also told the Herald last month that he wasn’t committed yet to the race — but voters started to get text messages over the weekend that indicate a campaign is in the works.
“Kaseya Co-founder Fred Voccola wants you to know: That park in your neighborhood that hasn’t been completed — it’ll be another year. The stalled drainage project causing your streets to flood — you’ll have to wait until after the next King Tide,” a text that came over Sunday afternoon reads. “The nearly $1 billion in lost economic impact from the Miami Marine Stadium Corruption Scandal — gone.
“And they’re al part of… the city of Miami’s 15% corruption tax.”
Ladra doesn’t know what Kaseya exit he pulled that number out of. Or if someone who serves on the FIU Board of Trustees with former Miami Commissioner Marc Sarnoff, a lobbyist who funnels campaign money from billboard companies and others into the PACs of electeds, can recognize corruption when its sitting right next to him.
“It’s the invisible 15% tax residents and businesses shoulder — it’s the price of inefficiency and rampant corruption across our city,” the text from Voccola read. And it sounds like the man is underselling — just 15%? — possibly for the first time ever in his life.
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Voccola co-founded Kaseya and served as its CEO for about a decade. During that time, he moved the AI cybersecurity and IT management software company from Boston to Miami in 2018, and Kaseya expanded significantly, reaching over $1.5 billion in annual recurring revenue, growing to more than 5,000 employees, and executing 18 strategic acquisitions. In January, he stepped down as CEO and moved into the role of vice chairman. He remains responsible for long-term strategy and innovation, helping to steer the company toward a potential future public offering while the board seeks a new CEO.
Fred Voccola and Francis Suarez mutually admire each other in an episode of the mayor’s Cafecito Talk podcast in 2021.
Prior to Kaseya, Voccola had leadership roles at several software and internet technology firms. He was co-founder and president of Identify Software (later acquired by BMC Software), co-founder and CEO of Trust Technology Corp. (acquired by FGI Global) and president and general manager at Yodle (acquired by Web.com). He has also been affiliated with Nolio, Intira, and Prism Solutions.
He was the keynote speaker last April at the Miami Tech Summit at — where else? — the Kaseya Center, and delivered the Miami Dade College commencement speech to the class of 2025 three months ago (he promised to learn more Spanish if he gets invited back).
But among the tried and true super voters of Miami, Voccola has no name recognition. He has no campaign infrastructure. No track record in local government. What he does have is cash. Lots of it. Enough to write his own ticket onto the ballot with less than 10 weeks to go.
And let’s not forget the receipts: hundreds of thousands in donations to Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, Rick Scott, and the Republican National Committee. That’s not exactly outsider status, no matter how much he wants to say he’s “not really political.”
Let’s see if Voccola really goes through with it, however. It’s all fun and games until you have to have to disclose all your financial business for everyone to see. Qualifying started Friday, but doesn’t end until Sept. 20. The election is Nov. 4. But with the number of candidates signed up or threatening to run for office, there’s likely to be a runoff.
Voccola insists Miami could be the first “AI-first city in the world.” But how out of touch is that? Voters in Miami are more concerned about potholes, parks, and police overtime than about ChatGPT running city government. Will the people who can’t afford rent in this “Dubai of the Western Hemisphere” connect with a billionaire Republican tech mogul who just parachuted into Miami politics?
Maybe. Stranger things have happened here. But if Voccola really wants to “destroy” the first person who tries something shady, he might want to start with the guy who talked him into this race in the first place.

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