{"id":408520,"date":"2026-09-23T19:14:49","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T19:14:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/408520\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T19:14:49","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T19:14:49","slug":"mike-harting-becomes-third-st-pete-council-member-to-back-charlie-crist-for-mayor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/408520\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Harting becomes third St. Pete Council member to back Charlie Crist for Mayor"},"content":{"rendered":"

St. Petersburg City Council Member Mike Harting is backing former Gov. Charlie Crist for Mayor, making him the third sitting Council member to support Crist as he challenges incumbent Mayor Ken Welch in November.<\/p>\n

Harting, who represents District 3, joins Council Chair Lisset Hanewicz and Council Member Gina Driscoll in endorsing Crist. The founder and CEO of 3 Daughters Brewing<\/a>, Harting has more than three decades of experience in the hospitality industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have listened to Governor Crist\u2019s vision for St. Petersburg and it\u2019s clear he has the experience and ideas to carry our city forward and deliver results for my constituents and all the residents of our great city,\u201d Harting said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Governor Crist at the helm, I know we can tackle our city\u2019s most pressing issues, from affordability, to effective and efficient hurricane response and to integrating technology to make government more efficient.\u201d<\/p>\n

In accepting the endorsement, Crist emphasized the importance of the relationship between the Mayor\u2019s Office and City Council.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI am honored to have earned support from Councilmember Harting, a dedicated public servant who has proven consistently that he has St. Petersburg residents\u2019 best interest in mind,\u201d Crist said. \u201cManaging a city requires collaboration between the executive and legislative branches; I know how to navigate that and I look forward to working with Councilmember Harting as Mayor of St. Petersburg.\u201d<\/p>\n

That theme has surfaced before in Crist\u2019s growing support from the Council.<\/p>\n

Hanewicz, who endorsed Crist last week, said her five years on the Council had given her a close view of challenges ranging from infrastructure and flooding to housing, affordability and financial pressures, and highlighted \u201chis willingness to work across differences.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Harting\u2019s endorsement adds to a string of support Crist has built since the Aug. 18 Primary. Crist has earned backing from former Council Member Ed Montanari, former mayoral candidates Kevin Batdorf and Maria Scruggs, and retired St. Petersburg Police leaders Cedric Gordon and Al White. Crist also has support from former St. Petersburg Mayors Bob Ulrich, Rick Baker and Bill Foster.<\/p>\n

The endorsements come as Crist continues to hold a substantial financial advantage over Welch entering the final stretch of the race.<\/p>\n

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The most recent campaign finance reports<\/a> show Crist with nearly $400,000 on hand between his campaign and affiliated political committee, St. Pete Shines<\/a>, while Welch has less than $25,000 remaining between his campaign and St. Petersburg Progress<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Crist raised more than $45,000 combined across the latest reports, including nearly $32,000 to his campaign and nearly $14,000 to St. Pete Shines. Welch raised less than $4,300 combined, including less than $3,800 to his campaign and $525 to his political committee.<\/p>\n

Crist and Welch are scheduled to meet on the debate stage Oct. 13 at 7 p.m. for a televised Spectrum Bay News 9 debate before voters make their choice in the Nov. 3 General Election.<\/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":"St. Petersburg City Council Member Mike Harting is backing former Gov. Charlie Crist for Mayor, making him the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":408521,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[155079,3347,3067,2346,8123,7356,202,204,3303,203,199,1640,201,129076,200],"class_list":["post-408520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-3-daughters-brewing","tag-charlie-crist","tag-gina-driscoll","tag-ken-welch","tag-lisset-hanewicz","tag-mike-harting","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-mayors-race","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-city-council","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-mayoral-election","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408520","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=408520"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408520\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/408521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=408520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=408520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}