The deadline for Florida political committees to report financial activity came and went Friday, bringing with it some obvious takeaways related to the St. Petersburg mayoral election.
One of the first observations was how a critical observation couldn’t be made Friday, after news dropped that incumbent Mayor Ken Welch would be filing his committee’s report late.
Not only was it another in a long line of political committee management mishaps (he’s on his third PC after the state revoked his first one and a consultant stole $200,000 from the second one), it also meant that comparing Welch’s most recent finance activity to that of his chief rival, former Gov. Charlie Crist, would have to wait.
By the time Welch filed his report, the second big takeaway emerged: Crist had raised more than double what Welch raised in the same period. And Crist raised more than the entire field of candidates combined.
As important as those observations are, they are obvious. It doesn’t take a political junkie like me to connect those dots.
But there were plenty of more insider-baseball nuggets buried within the latest round of finance reports that, while they may not be as easy to spot, have implications on the future of this race that are just as important to note as the top lines.
So with that, here are five things I think about the latest political committee fundraising reports.
Brandi Gabbard isn’t using her PC
Gabbard told Florida Politics that while she has a political committee, Forward Together PC, she’s not raising funds to it, opting instead to focus on her official campaign account.
There are a few caveats to note here. First, there are voters who will find this decision noble. And they’re not entirely wrong. Political committees, by design, make it easier to shield donations. She can proudly claim the mantle of full campaign transparency.
But how will she get that message out?
That brings me to my second caveat, which is that we don’t know how much Gabbard raised via her campaign account — those reports aren’t due until the end of the week. It will be interesting to see if her campaign activity rivals the funds Crist and Welch raised to their PCs.
My money is on, she didn’t. That’s not a dig on Gabbard, it’s an acknowledgment of facts. Political committees do not have the same restrictions as campaign accounts. It’s why you see $10,000, $20,000, even $50,000 contributions to PCs. The most a donor can give to a mayoral campaign is $1,000.
But even with those caveats, it’s troubling to see a sitting City Council member whose first mayoral debate performance was objectively good ignoring what is perhaps the most important resource at their disposal.
It makes me wonder if Gabbard has not taken into account the approximately 40% increase in the cost of running a campaign during an even-numbered year as compared to an odd number. This is the first time Gabbard will appear on an even-numbered year’s ballot, with both her City Council elections having taken place before the city switched up its election calendar.
That’s because turnout in even-numbered years is about 40% higher than in off years.
At any rate, without a PC it’s hard to imagine Gabbard having the resources to communicate her priorities and differentiate herself from Crist and Welch. If the goal is to just make a runoff, Gabbard will need every option available to her to make the cut. By ignoring her PC, she’s cutting off an important lifeline.
Welch’s donations all came from those with business before the city
That’s it. That’s the whole No. 2.
But for the sake of providing receipts, let’s walk through who they are.
Welch’s top donor to his St. Petersburg Progress PC was Sun Labs USA, run by Sidd Pagidipati and the Pagidipati family. Sidd Pagidipati is a principal with Ellison Construction, which was part of the stalled Historic Gas Plant District project. Sun Labs kicked in $50,000 to Welch’s PC, St. Petersburg Progress.
Reza Yazdani donated $25,000. Yazdani owns a large parcel of land near Eckerd College, on which he has plans to develop a 12-story, 96-unit condo complex. So far, the city has denied Yazdani’s variance requests, including a height variance and the overall site plan.
Then there is Altis Cardinal, which dropped in with a $24,000 contribution to Welch’s PC. The firm is behind an $800 million mixed-use development in the Skyway Marina District that’s already under construction, but whose plans will span several years and require additional interaction with the city.
The other three donors — Salem Gharsalli, Morgan MacMillan, and Jarrett Wolfe — each contributed $5,000. And each either have business before the city now, or could reasonably at some point in the near future.
MacMillan is the co-founder of St. Pete Country Fest, which will return to Vinoy Park this November. Various city approvals are needed for such large-scale events at city parks. Wolfe, meanwhile, is the founder and managing partner for SmartChoice, a communications technology company that expanded to St. Pete from New York City earlier this decade. And Gharsalli runs a chain of local restaurants, Salem’s Fresh Eats, whose continued expansion could require action and/or support from the city.
What some see as shady is actually defensive
I have heard some criticism about Crist’s political fundraising relying too heavily on contributions from political committees. The concern is about transparency — funding from a political committee is much harder to track than from an individual donor or specific company.
But here’s what many people don’t know: There are a lot of donors who wanted to donate to Crist, but feared doing so would risk relationships with the city in the interim. Some have said they were specifically intimidated by the Mayor, who suggested that if their names show up on opposing campaign finance reports, business before the city will suffer.
It’s fair to want transparency in political contributions, but it’s also important to understand why discretion is sometimes unavoidable.
Large no more
Former St. Pete Fire Chief Jim Large had a pretty good first fundraising haul, with more than $37,000. It’s not the type of fundraising rollout that makes a successful candidate in a race where six figures is the minimum. But it was respectable for a lower-tier candidate attempting to run with the big dogs.
But the second reporting period shows what little momentum Large had has now largely dried up. Large raised just $13,500 to his A Better Burg political committee in the most recent reporting period.
There were just six contributions during the most recent period, compared to 25 in the first quarter. Several of Large’s first-round donors were current or retired firefighters. There weren’t any in Round 2.
It was already difficult to see how Large found a lane in this race, but with his donor pool now seeming to have dried up, Large may be well on his way to “also-ran” status, if he’s not already there.
Kevin Batdorf should probably drop out, but not just yet
A former Shore Acres Neighborhood Association President, Batdorf entered the race with a small contingency of neighbors who were feeling frustrated.
Batdorf led his neighborhood through the back-to-back hurricanes in 2024, in a community where flooding was worse and more prevalent than anywhere else in the city. Batdorf traveled his neighborhood speaking with residents and, more importantly, watching as debris piles sat untouched and festering for weeks on end.
The angst may well be part of Welch’s mayoral demise. But it’s not looking like it will be the tide that lifts Batdorf’s boat.
Batdorf lacks name recognition and, so far, hasn’t posted anything even approaching competitive fundraising levels. There is no world in which Batdorf makes a runoff, let alone wins a General Election. One way or another, he’s operating Schrodinger’s campaign.
But don’t drop out just yet.
There are some upcoming debate opportunities that may give Batdorf an opportunity to boost name ID and credibility, even if there’s little to no chance they revive this particular mayoral attempt.
The Tiger Bay debate, specifically, could be Batdorf’s best moment on the campaign trail, where attendees will no doubt appreciate a sympathetic ear on their post-hurricane frustrations.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Batdorf may well have his political moment, but it won’t be this year. The best he can do is use this run to familiarize himself with voters and begin laying the foundation for his next run, whatever that may be.
Bonus: Speaking of Tiger Bay
Suncoast Tiger Bay is hosting a mayoral debate July 28 at the James Museum in downtown. Historically, these debates are among the best of the political cycle. Tiger Bay members are known for asking tough questions that moderators sometimes avoid. And there’s very little appetite for dodging questions.
But this year’s event feels stacked. Why? Because Suncoast Tiger Bay is run by one of Welch’s top henchmen, J.C. Pritchett.
Pritchett is the Executive Director. He largely controls club event planning and sets the tone for appearances. He will no doubt have an outsized say in debate format, perhaps even the order of talking and some of the questions.
It is no secret that Pritchett is 100% in Welch’s corner. He even publicly endorsed Welch for re-election, infographic and all. In fact, he’s kind of like me, in that we are both unofficial spokespeople for our preferred candidates.
So it’s more than a little concerning that Pritchett leads an organization hosting what is supposed to be an unbiased debate. That’s especially true after Pritchett compared Crist to U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who faces intense criticism for running in a district historically represented by Black leaders.
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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.