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<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cThroughout his career, Charlie has demonstrated leadership with compassion, integrity, and has always put people before politics. Those qualities have earned my lifelong respect and admiration, and that is why I believe he too would make an outstanding Mayor for our city.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Rouson made it clear he\u2019s not withdrawing support from Welch, his added support for Crist could be a huge win for the former Governor and U.S. Representative.<\/p>\n
Rouson was first elected to the House in 2008 and to the Senate in 2016. When he leaves office<\/a> this year due to term limits, his legislative career will have spanned approximately 18 years.<\/p>\n Rouson is one of the most trusted voices in the city\u2019s Black community. His support, even if it runs parallel to ongoing support for Welch, sends a strong message to the Black community, some of whom may be reluctant to withdraw support from the city\u2019s first Black Mayor.<\/p>\n As the incumbent, Welch is effectively guaranteed to be a frontrunner in the race. But Crist has quickly established himself as the other frontrunner, far out-fundraising raising Welch.<\/p>\n What\u2019s more, criticism for the incumbent abounds. That much was on full display last week during the first mayoral debate<\/a>, in which every candidate not named Welch directed most of their barbs at the incumbent.<\/p>\n Crist, on Monday, launched a new digital ad attacking Welch over his decision to cancel a project with Moffitt Cancer Center during his first year in office. Welch has also faced criticism about his administration\u2019s handling of the 2022 hurricanes, the breakdown of a deal with the Tampa Bay Rays to build a new stadium in St. Pete, and ongoing issues with the city\u2019s water billing.<\/p>\n That criticism, paired with Rouson\u2019s nod, could mark a shift in the campaign as the August 18 Primary draws nearer.<\/p>\n The endorsement comes after the latest fundraising reports for political committees showed Crist banking another $283,000 to his affiliated political committee, St. Pete Shines. Combined with campaign contributions, Crist has raised more than $1.6 million<\/a>. By comparison, Welch raised less than half<\/a> what Crist pulled in during the most recent reporting period, and his total political committee fundraising lags even further behind, with just over $300,000 raised.<\/p>\n Welch and Crist aren\u2019t the only candidates running. City Council member Brandi Gabbard, former city fire chief Jim Large, prison administrator Maria Scruggs, and former Shore Acres Neighborhood Association President Kevin Batdorf are also in the race, though none have reached either Welch or Crist\u2019s funding levels and polling suggests the race will likely be between the incumbent and former Governor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"State Sen. Darryl Rouson, a staple of St. Petersburg politics for nearly two decades, is endorsing former Gov.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":308747,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[3300,3347,820,71439,2346,72295,3175,202,204,3303,3304,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-308746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-brandi-gabbard","tag-charlie-crist","tag-darryl-rouson","tag-jim-large","tag-ken-welch","tag-kevin-batdorf","tag-maria-scruggs","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-mayors-race","tag-st-pete-mayoral-race","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\/308746","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=308746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308746\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/308747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/051122026-FCG-Ads2_728x90_Opp2-scaled-e1778784244341.jpg\")
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