Former Florida governor, Charlie Crist, officially files to run for St. Pete mayor

Crist has been a U.S. Representative, Florida’s governor and attorney general. Now, he wants to be the next mayor of St. Petersburg.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The former governor of Florida and U.S. representative, Charlie Crist, submitted his paperwork, officially making him a candidate for the mayoral race of St. Petersburg.

Crist made the announcement Monday afternoon in a social media post, where he stated: “I’m in.”

“I’m very excited,” Crist told 10 Tampa Bay News. “It’s my hometown and home is where the heart is. I’m excited for the campaign ahead.”

The former U.S. representative joins a list of multiple candidates who have filed documents expressing that they are running for mayor of the fifth most populous city in Florida.

Ken Welch, the current mayor of St. Pete, is on the list of candidates running for re-election. Additionally, Brandi Gabbard, a current council member of St. Pete’s City Council, is also running for the mayoral position. 

Maria Scruggs, Jim Large, Paul Congemi and Kevin Batdorf also filed their documents to run for mayor in St. Pete.

Back in October, the former Florida governor and U.S. representative confirmed to 10 Tampa Bay News at the time that he was “seriously considering” running for St. Pete mayor.

Residents of St. Pete will be able to vote in the Primary Election of Aug. 18 for one of the candidates running for mayor. If no candidate gets over 50% of the vote, there will be a runoff election on Nov. 3.