“I’m addicted to public service,” Crist said. “This is like the most exciting race ever. This is my hometown. Home is where the heart is.”<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/abd73102e57ed0eeb0dc7fe93c624a30.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n
Thirty-four years after first representing St. Pete in the state senate, Crist is running for a seventh political office<\/a>.<\/p>\n The backstory<\/p>\n Crist has served as education commissioner, attorney general, governor and as St. Pete’s member of Congress.<\/p>\n Most recently, in 2022, Crist lost his third governor’s race to Ron DeSantis.<\/p>\n On whether he still has a political base in St. Pete, Crist said, “I think so, there’s one way to find out. You’ve got to get on the field and let the people decide.”<\/p>\n Crist says internal polls show him leading incumbent Mayor Ken Welch by five points.<\/p>\n Dig deeper<\/p>\n Crist says he’s running because, to him, St. Pete is on a hiatus from success.<\/p>\n Crist cites the dissolution of the Tampa Bay Rays\u2019 deal with the Historic Gas Plant District<\/a>, which Welch blames on a “twin killing” of storms that ripped Tropicana Field\u2019s roof off and ruined the Rays\u2019 finances.<\/p>\n “The communication just broke apart,” Crist said. “And there’s no way to have success if you don’t communicate with who you’re negotiating with anymore. I’m a communicator.”<\/p>\n In fact, Crist says that if the deal to bring the Rays to Hillsborough County<\/a> doesn’t work, as mayor, he would re-start negotiations with the team to put them once again in the Historic Gas Plant District.<\/p>\n Crist wouldn’t commit to backing any of the current Historic Gas Plant District proposals.<\/p>\n The other side<\/p>\n Mayor Welch has insisted that the Historic Gas Plant District get off the ground right away, without the Rays<\/a>, and said of Crist’s entry into the race:<\/p>\n “Charlie Crist jumping into another race is about as surprising as a toddler asking for snacks, it\u2019s constant, and it\u2019s all about him…. this race is about the future; more housing, stronger infrastructure and real opportunity in every neighborhood \u2014 not indulging another political rerun,” Welch said.<\/p>\n Crist argues Welch is too hands-off, particularly on the city’s marina project<\/a>, and on the fight with the state over murals on public roads<\/a>.<\/p>\n On how far Crist would have pushed the issue with the state and whether he would have risked state funding to keep those murals, he said: “I think you have to risk it. And I don’t think it would be risked. Because, you know, I’m a lawyer. And I understand this relates to the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States.”<\/p>\n By the numbers<\/p>\n Crist said a plan to have a $600-million bond to pay for stormwater projects should go to a voter referendum, and that the Welch\u2019s affordable housing push has not been up to snuff, saying some of the units are too expensive.<\/p>\n “$800,000 is not affordable for most people in St. Petersburg,” Crist said. “Build something that’s not that expensive. It’s not rocket science.”<\/p>\n With that, Crist is embarking on one more effort to extend a political career that has now taken him from St. Pete, to Tallahassee, to Washington and back.<\/p>\n Is Crist proof that politics must be local?<\/p>\n “(I’m now) confined to St. Petersburg city limits, which I love. I think it’s great. I mean, instead of having to go to Miami, or Jacksonville, or Pensacola, you can stay right here at home.”<\/p>\n Crist, who says he will remain a registered Democrat, has posted strong fundraising numbers and is building a campaign staff in this non-partisan race.<\/p>\n Crist did pledge though to support a property tax overhaul, which is something top Republicans in Tallahassee want.<\/p>\n Crist says affordability is likely to dominate the conversation.<\/p>\n Will there be a debate with Mayor Welch?<\/p>\n Crist says, “We’ll see.”<\/p>\n The Source<\/p>\n Information for this story was gathered from an interview with the St. Pete mayor, as well as a mayoral candidate, conducted by FOX 13’s Evan Axelbank.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Brief Former Gov. and St. Pete Rep. Charlie Crist is announcing his run for mayor of St.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":250885,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[3347,13644,109721,2346,202,204,203,199,201,200,3815],"class_list":["post-250884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-charlie-crist","tag-historic-gas-plant-district","tag-incumbent-mayor","tag-ken-welch","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news","tag-tampa-bay-rays"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250884\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/3fd9737daed2c42d69011422bbea8ef1.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/77b0c58955f26d6fcd83ad85439c3b2d.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/04b9bb46e5ebf55e8d82c46d85cacf9f.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n