{"id":304270,"date":"2026-06-11T19:59:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T19:59:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/304270\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T19:59:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T19:59:12","slug":"naacp-ranks-welch-highest-after-first-mayoral-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/304270\/","title":{"rendered":"NAACP ranks Welch highest after first mayoral debate"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first major mayoral debate<\/a> of the 2026 campaign largely unfolded as a sustained critique of Mayor Kenneth Welch\u2019s first term, but under that pressure, NAACP-selected evaluators determined that Welch came out on top.<\/p>\n

The St. Petersburg NAACP (which hosted the event) released its candidate evaluation following Tuesday night\u2019s packed mayoral debate at the President Barack Obama Main Library. Despite spending much of the evening defending his administration from attacks by multiple challengers, Welch received the highest overall score from the organization\u2019s three independent evaluators.<\/p>\n

Welch earned a score of 42.3 out of 50, good for an A-minus rating. District 2 City Councilmember Brandi Gabbard finished second with a B-plus, followed by civil rights leader Maria Scruggs. Former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist placed fourth, while former Shore Acres Civic Association President Kevin Batdorf finished fifth. Former Fire Rescue Chief Jim Large, who did not participate, received no score.<\/p>\n

Crist repeatedly challenged the mayor\u2019s handling of the 2024 hurricane season, questioning both preparedness and leadership during the city\u2019s response efforts.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe prepare before they hit,\u201d Crist said during the debate. \u201cIt looks like we weren\u2019t prepared for these hurricanes recently.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scruggs focused much of her criticism on transparency, contracting practices and public accountability. Gabbard argued that the city needs to return to a greater emphasis on accountability and transparency, while Batdorf joined criticism of storm recovery efforts and neighborhood response.<\/p>\n

Welch clapped back on what he characterized as an overly negative portrayal of the city from his challengers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really going to push back on folks talking our city down,\u201d Welch said. \u201cOf course they have to have something to run on, and they have to say how bad it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the NAACP evaluation summary, Welch distinguished himself during one of the debate\u2019s final questions, when candidates were asked to identify a mistake they had made during the past decade.<\/p>\n

Evaluators noted that Welch was the only candidate to provide a specific example.<\/p>\n

\u201cMayor Welch was the only candidate who directly answered the question with a specific example, discussing bonuses awarded to staff who worked extensive overtime on the Historic Gas Plant Redevelopment project.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe acknowledged that while he stood by the decision itself, the timing could have been handled differently and that, in hindsight, he would have delayed the bonuses until construction had formally begun,\u201d the report stated, adding that his answer \u201cdemonstrated accountability, transparency and leadership maturity.\u201d<\/p>\n

The evaluation also cited Welch\u2019s leadership experience, preparedness and understanding of city issues among his strongest attributes.<\/p>\n

Gabbard received high marks for communication skills, knowledge of city issues and what one evaluator described as the clearest vision for St. Petersburg\u2019s future. Scruggs earned praise for authenticity, ethics and community engagement.<\/p>\n

Crist\u2019s evaluation acknowledged his government experience and communication skills, but noted that evaluators wanted more detailed solutions to city challenges and a stronger articulation of his vision for St. Petersburg.<\/p>\n

Batdorf received credit for authenticity and neighborhood advocacy, though evaluators said many of his responses focused more heavily on neighborhood, not city, concerns, ultimately relegating him to a C ranking, compared to Welch\u2019s A- (the widest ranking margin among candidates who participated in the debate, according to the NAACP survey \u2013 Jim Large received an F for not participating).<\/p>\n

Note: The NAACP said the evaluation was completed by three audience members between the ages of 23 and 55 who were not affiliated with any campaign. The organization emphasized that the rankings were intended for voter education purposes and do not constitute an endorsement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The first major mayoral debate of the 2026 campaign largely unfolded as a sustained critique of Mayor Kenneth…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":304271,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-304270","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\/304270","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=304270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304270\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/304271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=304270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=304270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=304270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}