{"id":369979,"date":"2026-08-13T03:02:33","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T03:02:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/369979\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T03:02:33","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T03:02:33","slug":"ken-welch-bled-support-so-now-hes-banking-it-from-leaders-who-want-to-take-the-rays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/369979\/","title":{"rendered":"Ken Welch bled support, so now he\u2019s banking it from leaders who want to take the Rays"},"content":{"rendered":"

Define irony.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, St. Pete Mayor Ken Welch, who faces a possible pink slip<\/a> from voters next week, proudly announced support from Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings, who Welch described in his post as \u201ca great colleague.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, I\u2019ve had a lot of colleagues. Some have been great. Some not so much. I tell you what doesn\u2019t make a great colleague: The guy who keeps stealing your sandwich from the break room fridge.<\/p>\n

Demings is part of a leadership team quietly attempting to woo the Tampa Bay, er, Orlando Rays to Central Florida<\/a>, a theft from St. Petersburg that costs a hell of a lot more than a hastily thrown together turkey sandwich.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s not even the first time Welch has victoriously proclaimed support from a mayoral \u201ccolleague.\u201d Welch touted support from Tampa Mayor Jane Castor all the way back in April, at the height of stadium negotiations for St. Pete\u2019s Major League Baseball team to pack up its Tropicana Field digs to head across the Bay. She might as well have said in her endorsement statement, \u201cthanks for the baseball team, you can\u2019t have it back.\u201d And Welch might as well have responded, \u201cwant my wallet, too?\u201d Well, at least he would have, if his former PC treasurer hadn\u2019t already walked off with it.<\/p>\n

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

In Demings\u2019 case, the sandwich is still in the Ziplock baggie; maybe we can salvage our lunch. In Castor\u2019s case, she\u2019s already taken a bite and licked the bread.<\/p>\n

Welch is celebrating support from Castor and Demings with the same enthusiasm Stewart Stevenson shows whenever his two supposed best pals throw him a crumb of attention. That\u2019s absolutely crazy for an incumbent Mayor polling well behind one challenger<\/a>, and only narrowly ahead of another \u2014 one who can\u2019t seem to raise much money \u2014 when both Mayors are trying to rob him of one of the city\u2019s most cherished assets.<\/p>\n

Remember when Hurricane Milton tore the roof off Tropicana Field and the Rays moved into Steinbrenner Stadium for a season? The Pinellas County Commission sure does. The Rays were supposed to be crashing on the Yankees\u2019 couch (ew). Castor started measuring for curtains, and now it\u2019s on the verge of permanence<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But I get it. Desperate times call for desperate measures.<\/p>\n

Welch is in the political fight of his life, and the ringside doctor looks ready to call it. He\u2019s bleeding support. People who were once in his corner \u2014 Sen. Darryl Rouson comes to mind<\/a> \u2014 are heading for the exits or sitting out altogether<\/a>. One of them, City Council Member Brandi Gabbard, climbed into the ring against him. (Charlie Crist also endorsed Welch in his first mayoral bid, so there\u2019s also that.)<\/p>\n

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

Endorsements are only worth the votes they deliver. And Castor and Demings seem far more interested in pulling the Rays out of St. Pete than dragging Welch\u2019s flagging campaign across the finish line.<\/p>\n

At the eleventh hour, all options are on the table. Welch should keep an eye on the silverware.<\/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\u00a0Peter Schorsch, the publisher of Florida Politics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Define irony. On Wednesday, St. Pete Mayor Ken Welch, who faces a possible pink slip from voters next…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":369980,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[3300,3347,5756,8134,2346,202,204,3303,18455,203,199,201,200,3815],"class_list":["post-369979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-brandi-gabbard","tag-charlie-crist","tag-jane-castor","tag-jerry-demings","tag-ken-welch","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-mayors-race","tag-st-pete-mayoral-election","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news","tag-tampa-bay-rays"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369979","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=369979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/369980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=369979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=369979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=369979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}