{"id":313574,"date":"2026-06-19T21:59:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T21:59:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/313574\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T21:59:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T21:59:15","slug":"receipts-matter-gina-driscoll-calls-out-brandi-gabbard-over-mayoral-debate-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/313574\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Receipts matter\u2019: Gina Driscoll calls out Brandi Gabbard over mayoral debate claims"},"content":{"rendered":"

St. Petersburg City Council Member Gina Driscoll<\/a> is accusing fellow Council Member and mayoral candidate Brandi Gabbard<\/a> of taking credit for two of her initiatives.<\/p>\n

Driscoll took issue with claims made during Thursday evening\u2019s mayoral forum<\/a> in a post on social media<\/a>, criticizing Gabbard for taking credit for her work on housing and artist support.<\/p>\n

Driscoll told Florida Politics her post after the debate was aimed at Gabbard\u2019s remarks about the city employee rental assistance program and the Artist Sustainability Fund, two issues Gabbard referenced while making the case that her experience on Council has prepared her to lead St. Petersburg as its next Mayor.<\/p>\n

\u201cWatched the livestream tonight. I will say this: Anyone who runs for office out of genuine love for our city is to be commended,\u201d Driscoll wrote on social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will also say this: I\u2019m somewhat flattered that a mayoral candidate would try to take credit for two of my major initiatives, but it\u2019s wrong to do that and voters should be concerned. Character matters. Receipts matter. More on that very soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

In a follow-up with Florida Politics, Driscoll confirmed she was referring to Gabbard\u2019s remarks.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was not the first time that I had heard this candidate claim credit for the city employee rental assistance program,\u201d she said. \u201cOn top of that, this time she tried to take credit, or claimed credit, for the Artist Sustainability Fund. Both of these initiatives are things that I\u2019ve worked my butt off to bring forward, and to see someone else trying to claim the credit for my hard work is really concerning. It\u2019s dishonorable and just unbelievable to me that a mayoral candidate would bend the truth like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the debate, Gabbard cited her work on the city\u2019s employee-assisted housing program while answering a question about housing affordability. She said she has been \u201cbuilding the affordable housing toolbox in St. Petersburg\u201d since she was elected and described the program as one of the accomplishments she is most proud of. Her record and a detailed platform<\/a> has been a staple of her campaign against incumbent Mayor Ken Welch,\u00a0former Gov. Charlie Crist<\/a>,\u00a0former St. Petersburg Fire Chief Jim Large<\/a>, jail administrator Maria Scruggs<\/a>\u00a0and former Shore Acres Neighborhood Association President Kevin Batdorf<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things I\u2019m most proud of is that I passed the employee assisted housing program, which gives a stipend to our employees who are the lowest paid within our city, but are required to still live here based upon their union contracts,\u201d Gabbard said. \u201cThat is an example of the work that I have done to really impact the everyday people of this city.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Driscoll says the rental assistance<\/a> idea was hers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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

According to a timeline Driscoll provided, Gabbard introduced a new business item in September 2018 called employer-assisted housing, which was sent to committee. The first committee discussion, held in August 2019, focused on home-buying assistance \u2014 an effort Gabbard, a Realtor<\/a>, had pushed.<\/p>\n

Rental assistance did not enter the discussion until later, Driscoll said.<\/p>\n

The second committee discussion, in April 2022, included a staff presentation laying out a menu of housing options, including rental assistance. Driscoll said that was when she introduced her \u201chand-up\u201d rental assistance idea, arguing the city should help employees with rent while requiring financial fitness training so they could eventually be in a better position to buy a home.<\/p>\n

Driscoll provided a video clip from the 2022 meeting where she spoke on the topic as evidence of her claims. She said the City Council unanimously approved funding to begin the employee rental assistance program that year.<\/p>\n

Her comments came immediately after staff presented information about the employee down payment assistance program to a city committee, during which Gabbard said \u201cI\u2019ve been working on this for four years\u201d before Driscoll made her pitch for employee rental assistance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of folks who would like to buy a home, would like to take advantage of that, but they need to strengthen their financial fitness first. So they\u2019re not there yet where they can go shopping for a home. They have to get their credit in order, they have to learn how to save, and if you are a renter you are more likely to be rent burdened \u2014 which makes it very difficult to save,\u201d Driscoll said during the 2022 meeting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I have asked \u2018is there something we can put together where we assist with rent?\u2019 But in exchange for that the employee has to go through financial fitness training with the hope that, after two years, they will be in a position where they will save because we have been helping with rent, they\u2019ve been learning how to save, manage finances, learning how to be ready to buy a home. So at the end of the two years they would be ready to go. That would be the hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

Driscoll also disputes Gabbard\u2019s claims about artist support.<\/p>\n

During a question about arts funding, Gabbard said she had been working with the development and arts communities \u201cfor the last year\u201d on a development bonus program that would create affordable live-work space for artists in new developments. She also said she supported and requested that the city look into a private-donor fund that could help the city purchase more art from local artists.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey need us to buy the art, but they also need places to be able to live and make their art and sell their art,\u201d Gabbard said. \u201cI believe that a city that\u2019s committed to the arts can make that happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Driscoll said that work refers to the Artist Sustainability Fund, which she introduced as a new business item in January 2025. She provided city agenda materials showing Driscoll introduced the dedicated fund idea as a new business item as evidence of the claim.<\/p>\n

Driscoll told Florida Politics she also introduced the Artist Sustainability Fund. She provided materials showing discussions on funding options to support the arts were first entertained in an Economic and Workforce Development Committee meeting in April of this year, where Driscoll served as Chair and Gabbard was not present.<\/p>\n

The proposal would add an art funding option to the city\u2019s existing downtown density bonus system, allowing developers to contribute financially to an arts fund in exchange for additional development bonuses, according to minutes from a March 26 meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cCommittee Chair Driscoll clarified that the current action would establish the funding mechanism, while the details of the grant program would be developed subsequently with input from staff and the arts community,\u201d according to the minutes.<\/p>\n

Driscoll said the text amendment is expected to go before the Development Review Commission on July 1, before heading to City Council for final approval in August.<\/p>\n

The episode highlights a challenge for Gabbard as she runs for Mayor from inside City Hall.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Her Council record is one of her clearest contrasts with the rest of the mayoral field, but many city initiatives move through committees, staff work and full Council votes, creating space for disputes over who deserves credit for the work.<\/p>\n

It also shows that Driscoll, who is facing term limits<\/a>, is more than willing to protect her own record as the mayoral campaign intensifies.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would hope that moving forward we see candidates running on their own record,\u201d she said. \u201cWe need a Mayor that can stand on their own record, and not someone who takes credit for other people\u2019s hard work just to make themselves look good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gabbard initially declined comment on this story, but responded to Driscoll\u2019s criticism after publication.<\/p>\n

Gabbard defended her role in the employee-assisted housing program, which she filed in 2018, nine months after taking office.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going to banter back and forth through the media on a historical record,\u201d Gabbard said. \u201cIt\u2019s very clear that the employee assisted housing program was started from a (New Business Item) in 2018 that was mine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gabbard said her remarks reflect a shared interest in housing affordability.<\/p>\n

\u201cCouncil Members collaborate all of the time on the dais over policy, that\u2019s part of the beauty of what we do on City Council,\u201d Gabbard said. \u201cShared interest and shared support for initiatives and ideas to make things better that are part of our process. So I always welcome when my colleagues have anything that makes policy ideas stronger, but employee assisted housing is an issue that I was proud to champion in 2018 and was glad to finally work with City Council to bring it forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the Artist Sustainability Fund, Gabbard said she has met with artists, developers, and both groups together.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have met with the artist community, I have met with developers, I\u2019ve met with the two together, and I\u2019m sure that they\u2019ve met with a lot of people. I hope that they have,\u201d Gabbard said. \u201cI talked about that last evening as an initiative that I support, I do support that. Council Member Driscoll has done incredible work in the artist space, in the space for the arts, creating funding for the arts, creating support for the arts. I admire the leadership that she has shown in the arts, and when I\u2019m Mayor I look forward to continuing to carry on her legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gabbard said she views the situation as a result of collaboration among Council members.<\/p>\n

\u201cQuite frankly, I don\u2019t really know what the complaint is,\u201d Gabbard said. \u201cWhat I see is collaboration of City Council members on numerous shared goals. This happens quite frequently, and that is the joy of working with seven other people who are highly engaged and have great ideas for how to move our city forward.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"St. Petersburg City Council Member Gina Driscoll is accusing fellow Council Member and mayoral candidate Brandi Gabbard of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":313575,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[3087,130505,3300,2152,3067,1644,130506,95278,202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-313574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-art","tag-artist-sustainability-fund","tag-brandi-gabbard","tag-development","tag-gina-driscoll","tag-housing","tag-incentives","tag-rental-assistance","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\/313574","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=313574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313574\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/313575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=313574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=313574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=313574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}