Charlie Crist to skip St. Pete mayoral candidate forum known for hardball questions

Former Florida Governor, and St. Pete mayoral candidate Charlie Crist Credit: Charlie Crist/Facebook

A day after taking heat over a since-deleted social media post by supporter and Florida Politics publisher Peter Schorsch, St. Petersburg mayoral candidate Charlie Crist announced he will skip tonight’s Suncoast Tiger Bay Club candidate forum.

Crist cited affordability, saying the $35 non-member ticket price made the event inaccessible. “We believe staying informed and participating in our democracy shouldn’t come with a price tag,” Crist said in an announcement posted to social media.

Crist is still slated to attend a paid “meet the candidates” event next Thursday, Aug. 6 with the St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce; entrance to that one is $40 for non-members.

A spokesperson for the Chamber told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that Crist, who previously confirmed he would attend, has not been in contact to indicate whether he would be skipping the meet-the-candidate event.

Tiger Bay members are known for asking difficult, incisive questions of candidates. Attendees compete to ask the best question of the evening, as determined by a panel of judges.

Yesterday, Crist was called out by incumbent Mayor Ken Welch who said that Crist ally Schorsch spread false rumors about Welch having an affair with a former staffer. Crist never responded to Welch, and neither him nor campaign manager Michelle Todd Schorsch have returned CL’s calls.

Peter Schorsch is married to Crist’s campaign manager and runs the Florida Politics news outlet, which was criticized in 2023 for alleged pay-to-play policies where paying (or not paying) for advertising can affect coverage.

Schorsch’s media company has received $24,000 from Crist’s campaign.

Suncoast Tiger Bay Club Executive Director J.C. Pritchett II said he learned about Crist’s decision this morning.

“I’m slightly surprised, because this is someone who I met in 1988 at Tiger Bay Club,” Pritchett told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay. Crist has been involved with the club for decades and has appeared at their forums in the past.

Confirmed mayoral candidates coming to tonight’s Suncoast Tiger Bay forum include Welch, St. Petersburg City Councilwoman Brandi Gabbard, Shore Acres Neighborhood Association President Kevin Batdorf, and former St. Pete Fire Chief Jim Large.

That makes Crist the only candidate not attending.

Pritchett is married to incumbent mayor Ken Welch’s cousin and is one of Welch’s top supporters. Woodson African American Museum Executive Director Terri Lipsey-Scott is also an avid Welch supporter, and is another one of the club’s directors. Pritchett said that his connection to Welch doesn’t affect the content of the candidate forum.

“I’m a professional. My job as executive director is to present the best programming for our members and guests,” Pritchett told CL. He described the format of the forum, in which members come up to the mic and ask questions that are not screened in advance. “I don’t control that,” Pritchett said.

Pritchett said that the admission price is to pay for the meal served with the forum, which has been a tradition since the club was founded.

Crist’s press release said he will be donating the amount that it would have cost to bring himself and his team to the forum to the Babycycle diaper bank.

This morning, Crist announced a competing, overlapping “tele-town hall” closed to other candidates in which people can dial into from their phones at 5 p.m., when many residents will still be commuting home from work.

He did not say if questions will be screened in advance or if the forum will be recorded for people who are unable to attend.

“With our tele-town hall, families can participate in the democratic process from the comfort of their own home, without having to find child care, take time off work or pay for admission they might not be able to afford,” Crist said in a press release sent to Florida Politics.

The “affordability” section of Crist’s campaign website doesn’t mention child care or propose ways to reduce prices of goods or events in the city. It has just two proposals: cutting property taxes and fixing water billing infrastructure. Mentions of affordable housing construction are also absent from the page.

As of this writing, three hours before the event, dial-in information has still not been announced. Crist did not respond to a request for comment.

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This article appears in July 23 – 29, 2026.

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