St. Petersburg City Council member Brandi Gabbard has officially filed to run for Mayor.
Gabbard’s decision comes after months of speculation, followed by weeks of confirming she planned to throw her name in the hat.
Gabbard is the fifth person to file for the race, following perennial candidate Maria Scruggs, who was the first to file, former city Fire Chief Jim Large and Paul Congemi, a former candidate who made national headlines after he told another former candidate to “go back to Africa.” The candidates are challenging incumbent Mayor Ken Welch, who has filed for re-election.
Former Gov. Charlie Crist, who also served in Florida’s 13th Congressional District, and Shore Acres Neighborhood Civic Association President Kevin Batdorf, are also expected to run.
Gabbard filed paperwork Tuesday.
It’s a crowded field of candidates and potential candidates to challenge an incumbent Mayor, and the amount of opposition punctuates what has been, at times, a challenging first term for Welch.
It’s especially notable because Welch is being challenged by credible candidates within his own party. While the race is technically nonpartisan, Welch is a Democrat. Gabbard and Crist are also Democrats.
While Gabbard is a Democrat, as a real estate professional sympathetic to property rights and small business protections, she could offer a more moderate option to Republicans and other conservative voters who don’t see their values reflected in the Welch administration.
Gabbard is a managing broker for Suncoast Realty Solutions and has been a licensed realtor since 2005. She was named Realtor of the Year for the Pinellas Realtor Organization in 2015.
She was first elected to the City Council in 2017 and is now facing term limits.
Welch faces several potential negatives, including the breakdown of the deal with the Tampa Bay Rays to keep the team in St. Pete. There were also reports of Welch’s absenteeism at City Hall, and Welch faced criticism over his administration’s response to last year’s back-to-back hurricanes, with some residents referring to mounds of debris that remained uncollected for weeks as Welch piles.
A September poll from St. Pete Polls commissioned by Florida Politics found Welch only barely above water in voter approval ratings, with less than 38% approving of his job performance and more than 34% disapproving, a difference within the poll’s margin of error.
Welch also faces a potential funding challenge. After a former campaign treasurer allegedly stole $207,000 from Welch’s affiliated political committee he was left with just about $48,000 on hand, as of the end of December. Crist’s committee, meanwhile, has raised more than $1 million.