{"id":251138,"date":"2026-04-29T14:47:39","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T14:47:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/251138\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T14:47:39","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T14:47:39","slug":"jane-castor-endorses-ken-welch-as-st-pete-race-takes-shape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/251138\/","title":{"rendered":"Jane Castor endorses Ken Welch as St. Pete race takes shape"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Tampa Mayor Jane Castor has endorsed <a href=\"https:\/\/tbbwmag.com\/category\/st-petersburg\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"24\" title=\"St. Petersburg\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">St. Petersburg<\/a> Mayor Ken Welch\u2019s re-election, adding a regional endorsement to the race as Welch seeks another term leading Pinellas County\u2019s largest city.<\/p>\n<p>The endorsement comes days after former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist filed to run for mayor of St. Petersburg, setting up a high-profile challenge to Welch\u2019s re-election.<\/p>\n<p>Welch\u2019s campaign announced the endorsement April 29 and tied it to the working relationship between the two mayors on issues that affect both cities, including housing, infrastructure and economic growth across the Tampa Bay region.<\/p>\n<p>Castor said the relationship has led to coordination between the cities as they manage growth and rising costs.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/tbbwmag.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read the latest Tampa news and updates<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cMayor Ken Welch has been a thoughtful, collaborative leader for St. Petersburg and a strong partner for our entire region,\u201d Castor said. \u201cHe leads with integrity, puts people first, and understands how to bring communities together to get things done.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Welch said that approach will continue if he is re-elected.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Tampa Bay region succeeds when we work together,\u201d Welch said. \u201cI\u2019m focused on continuing to create opportunity, expand affordable housing and ensure St. Petersburg remains a city where everyone can thrive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Since taking office, Welch has prioritized housing affordability, <a href=\"https:\/\/tbbwmag.com\/category\/economic-development\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"17\" title=\"economic development\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">economic development<\/a> and infrastructure investment, while emphasizing regional partnerships.<\/p>\n<p>The endorsement adds to Welch\u2019s support from labor groups and elected officials across Pinellas County, including public safety organizations.<\/p>\n<p>  Read More Tampa Bay Business News<\/p>\n<p>\n    Explore the latest Tampa Bay <a href=\"https:\/\/tbbwmag.com\/category\/business-news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"16\" title=\"business\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">business<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/tbbwmag.com\/category\/breaking-news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"15\" title=\"breaking news\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">news<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/tbbwmag.com\/real-estate\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Real Estate\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">real estate<\/a> deals, development projects, executive moves and company updates shaping the region.\n  <\/p>\n<p>\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tampa Mayor Jane Castor has endorsed St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch\u2019s re-election, adding a regional endorsement to the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":251139,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-251138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251138","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=251138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251138\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}