ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — In what became a somewhat contentious final few weeks before Election Day, the St. Petersburg mayoral race turned tight.
And as expected, no one candidate in the six-person race received 50% of the vote, leading to the top two candidates advancing to the general election.
Incumbent Mayor Ken Welch and Charlie Crist will be heading to a runoff election in November.
Crist almost doubled Welch’s vote total, garnering 35 percent (18,685 votes) of the vote to the incumbent mayor’s 20 percent (10,875).
Jim Large and Brandi Gabbard followed with 18 and 17 percent, respectively.
Several issues remain at the forefront for the city, including the future development of the Tropicana Field site, business development, home affordability and the reinforcement of infrastructure ahead of future storms.
Welch took aim at Crist Tuesday night saying Crist took $1.5 million in fundraising from out of town to run against him. Welch also said Crist moved back to St. Petersburg one year before the mayoral race to meet the cities residency requirement.
“Charlie Crist has not laid out any plans, no vision, whether it’s the Gas Plant, whether it’s resilience, affordability,” Welch said. “The people of St. Pete need to know what his plan is, and I hope he comes to some debates and not skip debates.”
As Welch casts Crist as an outsider, Crist said he will now work to rally democrats, republicans and independents to his campaign. He said even though he had a large margin of victory, there is still work to do.
“I’m just going to keep listening and working for them,” Crist said. “And doing everything I can to make sure that I take their message to the rest of the people throughout the city.”