As one of Florida’s most prominent Democrats, Charlie Crist has raised an unprecedented amount of cash in his bid to become St. Petersburg’s next mayor.
Much of that money has come from an unexpected source: the political party he left 16 years ago.
Republicans and the companies and political committees they control have spent more than half a million dollars on Crist’s mayoral campaign through mid-July, campaign finance records show.
Donors include two past chairpersons of the Pinellas GOP, former state legislators, political committees that regularly finance Republican candidates and powerful lobbyists who have advised and contributed to the campaigns of Gov. Ron DeSantis and President Donald Trump.
The GOP’s imprint on Crist’s campaign rivals what members of his own Democratic Party are contributing, no small feat in a city where Democrats have an edge over Republicans in registered voters of 42% to 27%.
With a haul of $1.8 million in contributions, Crist has broken the record for a St. Petersburg mayor’s race. He’s dwarfed the amounts raised by hisfive opponents, including the incumbent, Democrat Ken Welch.
Officially, St. Pete’s mayor’s race is nonpartisan. Unofficially, it’s anything but. The last two elections for mayor, in 2017 and 2021, pitted Democrats against Republicans. Democrats won both times in bruising red vs. blue contests.
In interviews, some Democrats said they worry that Republicans are laying siege by using Crist as a Trojan horse. They said Republicans are staking a claim on a politician whose political identity is — once again — up for grabs.
“What I see is the number of Republicans supporting him, and that’s disturbing,” said Lucinda Johnston, a former chairperson of the Pinellas County Democratic Executive Committee. “The kind of Republicans giving to him have an agenda. They don’t give money to someone who is not going to do something for them.”
But some Republican donors say they gave simply because they like him.
“The current mayor seems like a fine person, and I’m sure he’s doing a fine job,” said lobbyist Brian Ballard. “My support is about my relationship with Crist.”
Crist, 70, told the Times on Wednesday that the donations he’s received from opposite sides of the political spectrum areproof that he’s trusted to run the city in a nonpartisan manner, a rare quality in these polarizing times.
“This is a wonderful opportunity for St. Petersburg to show people that bipartisanship is not dead,” Crist said. “We’re all Americans, or, in this case, Floridians.”
The GOP ‘left me’
Perhaps no Florida politician’s partisan journey is better known, and argued about, than Crist’s.
As a Republican, Crist notched consecutive wins for state legislator, education commissioner, attorney general and governor.
That streak ended in a deflating 2010 campaign for the U.S. Senate, when he left the GOP to challenge Marco Rubio as an independent and lost big. Two years later, he became a Democrat with a now-famous declaration.
“I didn’t leave the Republican Party,”he said at the 2012 Democratic National Convention. “It left me.”
As a Democrat, his record is mixed. While he won two congressional terms representing St. Petersburg, he lost lackluster campaigns,in 2014 and 2022, to return him to the Governor’s Mansion.
He’s struggled in the 16 years since he was a Republican. His former party has pilloried Crist relentlessly, calling him a shape-shifter, chameleon, traitor, apostate and worse. After getting shellacked by DeSantis in the 2022 race, losing by more than 1.5 million votes, Crist seemingly vanished, splitting his time between St. Petersburg and Minnesota, where his fiancée lives.
Crist returned full-time last year, just in time to qualify for the mayor’s race.
Many leading Republicans have since fallen back in line, giving more than $500,000 in contributions to their once-favorite son.
They include:
Ballard’s firm, a Washington lobbying firm with deep ties to Trump and DeSantis, gave $60,000. Ballard himself gave $1,000. He’s co-chaired the gubernatorial inaugurations of DeSantis, Rick Scott and Crist — back whenCrist was still a Republican.Ballard also served as chairperson of the Florida Finance Committee for the presidential campaigns of John McCain in 2008, Mitt Romney in 2012 and Trump in 2016.
Nick Iarossi, a Tallahassee lobbyist who is a longtime supporter of DeSantis and Trump, gave $6,000.
Florida PC, a political committee run by GOP consultant Alex Alvarado, gave $5,000. The committee also gave $150,000 to campaign of former U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, who is the GOP front-runner in the Florida governor’s race.
Citizens Alliance for Florida’s Economy, which is run by Republican consultant Anthony Pedicini, gave $5,000.
Committees run by Republican lobbyist and consultant David Ramba contributed $10,000.
Former Pinellas County GOP chairpersons Paul Bedinghaus and Jay Beyroutieach gave, Bedinghaus $500 and Beyrouti $7,000.Beyrouti also gave $1,000 to Welch’s campaign.
‘Hell or high water’
Some of those contributors said their support reflects Crist’s appeal rather than any policy agenda.
Ballard said he was chief of staff for Republican Gov. Bob Martinez in the late 1980s when he struck up a close friendship with Crist, then the state director for U.S. Sen. Connie Mack.
Every time Crist ran as a Republican, Ballard said he would contribute. After Crist left the GOP, he couldn’t contribute when Crist ran against a prominent Republican. But in the mayor’s race, Ballard said he had no such constraints.
“I love the guy, hell or high water,” Ballard said. “He has a unique ability to keep friends and keep those relationships separate from the politics. My guess is that the Republicans you’re seeing support him now are giving for those same reasons. They’re doing it because he’s a good guy.”
Like Ballard, Iarossi said it was friendship that convinced him to donate. Iarossi, who turned Crist downfor fundraising in 2022 because he was backing DeSantis in the governor’s race, said he was happy to give this time.
“Even though he doesn’t always align politically with the GOP, many Republicans support Charlie because he’s an incredibly likable guy,” Iarossi said in a text to the Times. “He’s remarkable at maintaining relationships.”
Pedicini downplayed the importance of the GOP contributions, saying donors prefer Crist over Welch because they think he can do a better job.
“There are Democratic mayors in cities all across Florida,” Pedicini said. “If you want something done, you need to have a relationship with the mayor. That’s all this is. It doesn’t have anything to do with ideology.”
Welch said he thinks the GOP donations were intended to drive him out of the race, but it didn’t work.
“Charlie’s getting money from folks who have known him for a number of years,” Welch said. “But they don’t know about St. Petersburg. At the end of the day, folks will make the right call, and it won’t be on whoever has the most money.”
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