{"id":251223,"date":"2026-04-29T16:09:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T16:09:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/251223\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T16:09:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T16:09:14","slug":"jane-castor-endorses-ken-welch-in-high-stakes-st-pete-mayors-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/251223\/","title":{"rendered":"Jane Castor endorses Ken Welch in high-stakes St. Pete Mayor\u2019s race"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tampa Mayor Jane Castor<\/a> is backing St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch<\/a> for re-election, delivering a high-profile regional endorsement.<\/p>\n

The support comes days after former Gov. Charlie Crist<\/a> filed to challenge Welch, as he and several other candidates vie for the mayoral seat during this year\u2019s city election.<\/p>\n

Castor said she has worked closely with Welch on key issues impacting the Tampa Bay region for years, and praised his steady leadership and commitment to the community.<\/p>\n

\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. St. Petersburg is stronger because of his leadership, and I\u2019m proud to support his re-election.\u201d<\/p>\n

Welch faces clear political headwinds as the election approaches, and other candidates are drawing from different corners of the St. Petersburg electorate<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

City Council member Brandi Gabbard<\/a> has leveraged her ties to the local real estate sector and City Hall experience to build a coalition that includes business interests and voters critical of Welch\u2019s leadership, including some who have voiced frustration over recent handling of culture war dynamics with Tallahassee.<\/p>\n

Former St. Petersburg Fire Chief Jim Large<\/a> brings decades of public service experience \u2014 including 18 years leading the Fire Department \u2014 and has built early support among current and retired firefighters and conservative-leaning voters.<\/p>\n

Former Shore Acres Neighborhood Civic Association President Kevin Batdorf<\/a> has positioned himself as a grassroots candidate, tapping into neighborhood-level frustration with city leadership following recent hurricanes and recovery efforts.<\/p>\n

Maria Scruggs<\/a> has shown that she can also garner some community support of her own, already qualifying for the race by petition \u2014 showing that the perennial candidate can garner some community support even while on a budget.<\/p>\n

And Crist has formally entered the race with more than $1 million on hand through an affiliated political committee \u2014 significantly outpacing the rest of the field and quickly establishing himself as Welch\u2019s top challenger. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

While winning the fundraising race against Crist is unlikely, Welch is hoping to garner enough support for his re-election with a little help from his friends. Castor\u2019s backing adds support from Tampa Bay\u2019s most powerful Democrat to a strong local coalition rallying around Welch.<\/p>\n

That includes labor groups, local elected officials and longtime community leaders \u2014 many of whom have pointed to his handling of storm recovery efforts, housing affordability, equitable economic development, and the high-stakes redevelopment of the Historic Gas Plant District as reasons for their support.<\/p>\n

Others backing Welch include the St. Petersburg Association of Fire Fighters and the Police Benevolent Association, St. Petersburg Democratic Rep. Michele Rayner<\/a>, former Tampa Democratic Sen.\u00a0Arthenia Joyner<\/a>, former St. Pete City Council member Copley Gerdes<\/a>, Pinellas County Commissioner\u00a0Rene Flowers<\/a>, St. Petersburg City Council member Deborah Figgs-Sanders<\/a>, Gulfport City Council member Jennifer Webb<\/a>, former St. Petersburg City Council Member Charlie Gerdes, former Pinellas County Commissioner Pat Gerard, and former Pinellas County Commissioner and School Board member Susan Latvala.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Welch said he is honored to now receive Castor\u2019s endorsement.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m grateful to Mayor Castor for her partnership and support,\u201d Welch said. \u201cThe Tampa Bay region succeeds when we work together, and I\u2019m proud of the progress we\u2019ve made by building strong relationships across our cities. As we look ahead, I\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>\n

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tampa Mayor Jane Castor is backing St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch for re-election, delivering a high-profile regional endorsement.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":251224,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[3300,5756,71439,2346,72295,3175,202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-251223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-brandi-gabbard","tag-jane-castor","tag-jim-large","tag-ken-welch","tag-kevin-batdorf","tag-maria-scruggs","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\/251223","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=251223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251223\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}