{"id":332252,"date":"2026-07-07T20:39:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T20:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/332252\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T20:39:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T20:39:10","slug":"gina-driscoll-first-city-council-member-to-back-charlie-crist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/332252\/","title":{"rendered":"Gina Driscoll first City Council member to back Charlie Crist"},"content":{"rendered":"

St. Petersburg City Council Member Gina Driscoll is endorsing Charlie Crist for Mayor, a nod that rejects both incumbent Mayor Ken Welch and Driscoll\u2019s Council colleague, Brandi Gabbard.<\/p>\n

Driscoll is the first sitting Council member to back Crist. Two members \u2014 Deborah Figgs-Sanders and Copley Gerdes \u2014 have endorsed Welch. With Gabbard also running, that leaves four City Council members\u2019 support still up for grabs.<\/p>\n

Driscoll wrote a glowing letter explaining her support for the former Governor, suggesting that current leadership has failed in delivering results for St. Petersburg.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe St. Pete can be to ocean science what the Research Triangle is to technology if we have the right leadership. When the USF Marine Science Lab burned this spring, I responded alongside a community that refuses to give up. What it needs now is a Mayor who can bring real resources to the table,\u201d she wrote. \u201cThat Mayor is Charlie Crist.\u201d<\/p>\n

Driscoll, who was first elected to the City Council in 2017, praised Crist for his ability to draw down funding in a variety of capacities. Crist has served in the Florida Senate, as Governor and as a United States Representative, in addition to Florida Attorney General and Education Commissioner.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cCharlie does not just talk about our marine science sector. He delivered millions in funding for USF\u2019s College of Marine Science and Eckerd\u2019s marine science program. He came to our research centers to learn what they needed, then went to Washington and got it done,\u201d Driscoll said of Crist\u2019s time representing Florida\u2019s 13th Congressional District.<\/p>\n

In a subtle dig to Welch, Driscoll said Crist\u2019s work \u201cis the difference between claiming credit and earning it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Driscoll, long passionate from the dais about the importance of arts programming and funding in the city, also praised Crist for his work on the issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cI fought for local arts funding and proposed the Artist Sustainability Fund because our creative community is not a luxury. It is an integral part of our economy and our local identity,\u201d she said. \u201cCharlie has understood that for decades. As a state Senator, he sponsored the State of the Arts license plate that still funds arts programs across Florida today.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s in contrast to the current administration, Driscoll said, arguing that \u201cSt. Pete has been on pause.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u201cCharlie is the person to restart the progress that made this city great,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Driscoll\u2019s endorsement builds on a growing list of support for Crist, including most recently from state Rep. Allison Tant<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Crist also previously unveiled a larger slate of Democratic leaders supporting his campaign for Mayor, including U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, former U.S. Reps.\u00a0Cheri Bustos\u00a0of Illinois and\u00a0Matt Cartwright\u00a0of Pennsylvania,\u00a0state Sen.\u00a0Darryl Rouson<\/a>, former state Rep.\u00a0Ben Diamond, former Department of Juvenile Justice Secretary and former state Rep.\u00a0Frank Peterman, current and former Tampa and St. Petersburg City Council members, and other political leaders.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Crist continues to grow his fundraising dominance in the race, with more than $1.2 million available between his official campaign account and affiliated political committee, St. Pete Shines<\/a>. Welch, Crist\u2019s top competition for the job, has less than $260,000 available between his campaign account and his St. Petersburg Progress political committee.<\/p>\n

Polling is also on Crist\u2019s side<\/a>, with a recent St. Pete Polls survey showing Crist leading Welch by more than 12 percentage points. The poll also found Crist leading the rest of the mayoral field by more than 17 percentage points. The crosstabs show troubling signs for the Welch campaign, with a notable decrease in Black voter support from a poll taken in March until the more recent poll in late June.<\/p>\n

In March, Welch led among Black voters with 55% support, a huge lead over Crist, who posted just 16% support. But Crist gained 14 percentage points in the latest survey, while Welch slipped 13 percentage points, to just 42% support and only 12 points ahead of Crist among that demographic.<\/p>\n

And the clock is winding down on this stretch of the election, with mail ballots already sent to overseas voters and ballots set to be delivered to domestic voters next week. That means voting will be underway soon for the Primary, with Election Day on Aug. 18 serving as the final day of voting.<\/p>\n

If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, a runoff will be held in the General Election on Nov. 3.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Ed. note:\u00a0Michelle Todd Schorsch\u00a0is the Chair of St. Pete Shines, a political committee backing Crist for St. Petersburg Mayor. Todd Schorsch is married to Schorsch, the publisher of Florida Politics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"St. Petersburg City Council Member Gina Driscoll is endorsing Charlie Crist for Mayor, a nod that rejects both…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":332253,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[3300,3347,3067,2346,202,204,18455,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-332252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-brandi-gabbard","tag-charlie-crist","tag-gina-driscoll","tag-ken-welch","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-mayoral-election","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\/332252","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=332252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332252\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/332253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=332252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=332252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=332252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}