St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch’s re-election operation posted a six-figure fundraising report after a late filing, but he still fell far short of the fundraising leader in the race: former Gov. Charlie Crist.

Crist’s affiliated political committee more than doubled Welch’s most recent haul, and raised more than all mayoral candidates’ combined for the period. 

St. Petersburg Progress, the political committee supporting Welch’s campaign, reported $114,000 in monetary contributions from April 1 through May 31, according to campaign finance records the operation filed late. The committee spent about $50,500 during the same period.

St. Petersburg Progress has now reported about $301,000 raised since launching in January after his previous committee, The Pelican Political Action Committee, became mired in allegations that a former Treasurer stole more than $200,000 from it. Welch is now on his third political committee after the state terminated his original committee, Pelican PAC, over repeated filing and other failures related to campaign finance reporting requirements.  

St. Petersburg Progress missed its latest campaign finance reporting deadline. Committee Chair Adrienne Bogen previously told Florida Politics the report would be filed a day late because of a family medical emergency, and that the campaign would pay the late-filing fee.

The committee’s latest report shows Welch’s second-quarter fundraising activity driven largely by a small group of donors writing big checks. Three donor sources accounted for nearly $100,000 of the $114,000 raised during the period.

Sun Labs USA gave the largest contribution, cutting a $50,000 check. The company is tied to the Pagidipati family, according to state business records. The Pagidipatis are a prominent Tampa health care and philanthropic family whose business background includes Freedom Health, which Sidd Pagidipati co-founded with his father before it was sold in 2018, according to Tampa Magazine.

Altis Cardinal Skytown LLC donated another $24,000. The company is tied to Sky Town, a six-phase redevelopment of the former Ceridian site in the Skyway Marina District that is expected to bring more than 2,000 apartments, Sprouts-anchored retail and self-storage space to the 34.3-acre mixed-use development. The project, originally planned as all-market-rate housing, later received $10 million from the city and county to include affordable units, including $4.5 million from the city. 

St. Petersburg developer Reza Yazdani also donated $25,000 across two contributions. Yazdani is the founder of ITI Financial and has spent more than three decades in construction and real estate, with his company completing 82 projects totaling more than $1 billion, according to his company profile.

The Q2 report also shows $5,000 contributions from Morgan MacMillan, Jarrett Wolfe and Salem Gharsalli.

“We’re grateful for the strong support Mayor Welch continues to receive from residents and community leaders across St. Petersburg. The latest fundraising numbers reflect confidence in his record of delivering results on affordable housing, public safety, storm recovery, and economic opportunity. Independent groups make their own decisions about endorsements and contributions; our focus remains on communicating directly with voters,” Bogen said.

While the latest fundraising activity offers the Welch re-election operation a new infusion of cash, Crist is not only maintaining his fundraising advantage, he’s continuing to grow it.

Crist’s affiliated political committee, St. Pete Shines, reported just over $282,500 raised from April 1 through May 31, more than double what Welch’s committee raised during the same period. St. Pete Shines spent about $72,000 during the period.

Overall, St. Pete Shines has raised nearly $1.5 million since launching. Crist’s campaign and committee previously announced that his full political operation had grown to more than $1.6 million, including more than $54,000 raised through his campaign from April through May.

City Council Member Brandi Gabbard isn’t currently raising funds to a political committee, she told Florida Politics. She has one, Forward Together PC, but hasn’t been soliciting donations to it, focusing instead on her campaign account. Still, the account has a little less than $4,000 available, as of the end of May. 

Gabbard’s first-quarter campaign report showed just over $4,000 raised through March 31, though her campaign did not officially kick off until April 7. That makes her next report the first real test of whether Gabbard can raise enough to carry her message to voters. Gabbard delivered a strong performance in a debate last week, and it’s possible she sees a surge in donations from that. 

Maria Scruggs’ political committee is registered through the city, meaning it will not report Q2 numbers until next month. Her campaign account raised about $2,600 in the first quarter, bringing it to nearly $18,000 raised overall, while Scruggs’ The Shelynn PAC reported no new contributions during the period and remained at $7,500 raised to date. 

Scruggs has leaned into her underdog status, qualifying for the ballot by petition rather than paying the qualifying fee. She’s the only candidate in the city to do so.

Former St. Petersburg Fire Chief Jim Large’s A Better Burg political committee raised $13,500 in the most recent reporting period, bringing the total amount raised to just over $50,500. The committee has spent nearly $10,000, leaving about $40,000 still on hand. More than half of the committee’s expenditures, $5,000, went to Golden Jaguar Consulting, Pinellas County Commissioner Chris Latvala’s firm, for political consulting.

While Large, like other candidates, has not yet reported Q2 campaign fundraising, he brought in about $59,400 in the first quarter, though that includes about $31,000 in candidate loans. Large is running as a public safety voice in the race, leaning on decades of service in city government. 

Meanwhile, former Shore Acres Neighborhood Association President Kevin Batdorf had raised about $1,300, as of Q1 reporting.

The deadline for candidates to report campaign finance activity to the city of St. Pete is Friday.

The Primary is Aug. 18. If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, the top two finishers will advance to a Nov. 3 runoff.

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Ed. Note: Michelle Todd Schorsch is the Chair of St. Pete Shines, a political committee backing Crist for St. Petersburg Mayor. Todd Schorsch is married to Peter Schorsch, the publisher of Florida Politics.