At this point, the answer as to why Crist returned is pretty obvious: to fix the messes created by Welch\u2019s bungled responses to the hurricanes<\/a>, his handling of the stadium saga<\/a>, and his failures on a variety of other issues, from the marina and the Moffitt development to Jabil<\/a> not building its second campus in the city, not to mention his struggles with maintaining top staff.<\/p>\n But it\u2019s the first question \u2014 and Crist\u2019s forthright answers to it \u2014 that makes for compelling reading.<\/p>\n Crist, St. Petersburg\u2019s favorite son, was displaced by Hurricane Idalia<\/a>. This makes Crist, a former Governor and Congressman and someone who was on a shortlist to be a Vice Presidential nominee, something he\u2019s not often been accused of: entirely relatable. With his home destroyed, he was like thousands of other St. Petersburg residents left scrambling in the aftermath of the hurricanes that devastated the city these past few years.<\/p>\n And it drove Crist to the wilderness.<\/p>\n Van Sickler, almost poetically, details how Crist split time between his parents\u2019 home and his fiancee\u2019s home in Minnesota, where she was enduring her own personal crisis: the untimely death of her ex-husband, who was father to her children.<\/p>\n If you know Charlie Crist as I do, it\u2019s hard to imagine Sunshine Charlie in the frozen tundra of rural Minnesota, playing Mr. Mom to a household of grown children. But he did, and again, the entire ordeal makes Crist seem relatable in a way many people have probably not observed before.<\/p>\n I think a lot of folks who read this story \u2014 the folks in the deeply impacted neighborhoods of Shore Acres and Rio Vista and Bahama Shores \u2014 will take it all in and conclude, \u201cWow, Charlie Crist has had it just as f*cked up as we have these past few years. No wonder he\u2019s pissed at City Hall. I\u2019m pissed, too. No wonder he\u2019s back to run for Mayor. Anyone is better than the guy there now.\u201d<\/p>\n Now, there\u2019s also a lot in the story that reads like someone dropped an oppo packet on Crist.<\/p>\n For some reason, Crist was registered to vote in Minnesota at the same time he was registered to vote in Florida<\/a>. I checked myself and I guess there\u2019s automatic voter registration<\/a>, which for Crist probably kicked in when he had mail forwarded up north. I really don\u2019t know. The elections officials up there won\u2019t comment and there\u2019s no paperwork to request. Crist says he didn\u2019t vote in Minnesota.<\/p>\n There were also some questions about Crist\u2019s timeline as a resident of St. Pete. And Van Sickler, who went so far as a reporter to take pictures of the condo Crist was renting last year, concludes that Crist meets the nebulous residency requirements to run for Mayor of St. Pete (basically, you have to be a resident of St. Pete for a year; Crist\u2019s lease began August 1, 2025 and he updated his address one year to the day before the August 2026 Primary Election).<\/p>\n There\u2019s been a whisper campaign, especially amongst Welch supporters, that Crist did not meet the residency requirements. There have also been some uglier whispers by Welch\u2019s supporters questioning, \u201cWhere has Charlie been?\u201d<\/p>\n It turns out that the man whose last public act in Florida was running against Ron DeSantis \u2014 the man many of these Welch supporters despise the most, was humbled not by a political opponent \u2014 but by Mother Nature. And, along the way, a romantic relationship that was just beginning to blossom, was itself tested.<\/p>\n As for the whispers and innuendos, shame on the Welch supporters and gossipy scribes who have called into question Charlie Crist\u2019s connection to St. Petersburg.<\/p>\n There is no one \u2014 and I say this as a guy who previously published a blog all about the City of St. Petersburg \u2014 more associated with the \u2019burg than Charlie Crist.<\/p>\n And I think there will be a comeuppance to those who tried to suggest otherwise.<\/p>\n One more note and I can\u2019t believe I am writing this, but how wonderful to see Van Sickler report this story. Trust me, this story is not a win for Charlie Crist; it will only offer confirmation bias to those opposed to his looming candidacy. But Van Sickler, partially attempting to fill the shoes of the great Times political editors who came before him, is offering a commodity in short supply these days: context.<\/p>\n The Times and Florida Politics and The St. Pete Catalyst and all of the other local outlets will undoubtedly capture the rat-a-tat-tat of a wide-open mayoral race<\/a>. But what is sorely missing are those voices, beyond mine if we\u2019re being honest, who can offer some context and perspective to this race.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/35430585-724C-4774-BF52-F6A1E4F0D36C.png\")
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