Charlie Crist is sharpening his case for St. Petersburg Mayor, saying the city should be ready to make another run at the Tampa Bay Rays, pushing a property-tax cut and revisiting major economic-development opportunities he says City Hall allowed to slip away.
The former Governor laid out that pitch in an interview with Florida Politics on Wednesday, while also responding to criticism raised by opponents at Tuesday night’s Suncoast Tiger Bay Club mayoral forum.
Addressing Suncoast Tiger Bay snub
Crist skipped the mayoral forum — which was organized by club leadership with close ties to Mayor Ken Welch — over concerns about its admission fees. He instead hosted a free tele-town hall that his campaign said eventually reached more than 7,500 participants.
“If I can reach that many people in a town hall phone call, instead of going to a paid-for experience at Tiger Bay, I’m going to do it every day. It’s important to reach out to the voters and talk to them directly,” Crist said. “I’ve debated my opponents three times already, I don’t think any of them are going to vote for me, so I don’t need to be doing that anymore.”
Crist’s decision became one of the defining storylines at the forum. The five candidates who attended questioned his proposed tax cut, hurricane response criticism and engagement with local issues.
Crist was unapologetic Wednesday. Instead, he said he plans to spend the final weeks before the Primary speaking directly with voters.
“I’m going to reach out to the people of St. Petersburg directly, as I did for three hours today knocking on their doors in old Northeast. That’s how I’m going to run my campaign. It’s a people campaign,” he said.
Keeping St. Pete in the Rays game
The Rays were among the most prominent pieces of Crist’s pitch, although he acknowledged the fervor of ongoing negotiations for a new stadium and mixed-use district in Tampa.
The team is actively pursuing a new ballpark at the Hillsborough College Dale Mabry campus near Raymond James Stadium, but Crist said St. Petersburg should not close the door on another deal, particularly if negotiations across the bay falter.
Crist praised the Rays for putting together what he called a championship-caliber squad and criticized Welch for ending the city’s negotiations with the team after the previous stadium agreement collapsed.
“The notion that the current Mayor would stop negotiating is disappointing to me,” Crist said.
The Rays’ Tampa discussions are moving quickly, but Crist argued St. Petersburg should remain prepared to step back into the conversation.
“St. Pete deserves a Mayor who will try, and I’ll try like hell,” he added.
Crist said the Rays are part of a pattern of opportunities he believes the Welch administration allowed to slip away. He also pointed to a proposed Moffitt Cancer Center facility and the loss of operations connected to Home Shopping Network and Jabil.
“I would give a good college try to each and every one of them. I think the people of St. Pete deserve that,” Crist said. “They deserve to have a Moffitt Cancer Center satellite based in downtown St. Pete, which was proposed, and the Mayor moved away from those negotiations for his own reasons. I just think we can do better. I think we deserve better, and I’m trying to offer an alternative.”
Crist defends tax-cut pitch
Crist directly addressed one of the clearest challenges raised against his campaign at Tiger Bay, questions about how he would pay for a proposed 0.4-mill reduction in St. Petersburg’s property-tax rate.
Welch has repeatedly asked what Crist would cut to absorb the nearly $15 million reduction, warning that it could affect neighborhood safety, the arts, social services and homelessness programs.
Crist did not identify specific programs he would reduce. Instead, he argued that a city budget approaching $1 billion should contain enough flexibility to deliver the tax cut without sacrificing essential services.
“If you can’t find $15 million, you’re not looking hard enough,” Crist said. “People need to sharpen their pencils in the administration.”
Crist estimated that the reduction would return about $14.8 million annually to property owners. He said city government should live within its means, just as St. Petersburg families must when expenses rise.
“People deserve a break,” Crist said. “It’s been really rough on most families.”
Addressing hurricane recovery criticism
Crist also pushed back against criticism of his attacks on the city’s hurricane response.
St. Petersburg City Council Member Brandi Gabbard said at Tiger Bay that residents continue to carry trauma from hurricanes Helene and Milton and accused Crist of using their experiences as a political talking point. Her district includes neighborhoods that experienced widespread flooding and property damage.
Crist said his criticism is rooted in his own experience living in Shore Acres during the 2024 storms.
He said floodwater entered his garage, ruined his washer and dryer and totaled his car. Black mold, he said, eventually forced him to leave the neighborhood.
“It was a nightmare,” Crist said.
And it wasn’t just him. Crist said residents he encounters while canvassing remain frustrated by the city’s response and the pace of recovery, highlighting a nickname for debris piles that accumulated after the storm.
“A lot of people in St. Pete coined those piles, ‘Welch piles,’” he said. “They’re frustrated. I know they are.”
Despite emphasizing St. Petersburg’s infrastructure problems, Crist has not yet taken a position on the proposed $600 million general obligation bond for water, wastewater, stormwater and flood-protection projects.
He said he needs more time to study the proposal before deciding how he will vote in November.
“I want to be an informed voter, like most people do,” Crist said.
Woodson museum
Crist also expressed support for establishing a permanent home for the Woodson African American Museum of Florida, a longtime St. Petersburg effort and another issue raised at Tiger Bay.
He said the museum is a way for the city to confront difficult parts of the past while preserving history for future generations.
“It’s historically important to St. Petersburg. There’s an old expression. Those who don’t know history may be condemned to repeat it. I don’t want us to repeat it. It wasn’t a shining moment in St. Pete’s history, but we can move on and honor the past, and this museum, I think, will do that in a very powerful way,” Crist said.
Open government
He closed the interview by pledging to create an office of open government and transparency if elected, modeled on one he established in the Governor’s Office shortly after taking office.
“I’ll do the same if I have the good fortune to be elected Mayor of my hometown,” Crist said, pledging to remain “transparent and open” with St. Petersburg residents and the press.
The Aug. 18 Primary is less than three weeks away. Mail voting is underway, while early voting begins Aug. 8 and continues through Aug. 15.