{"id":410208,"date":"2026-09-25T10:54:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T10:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/410208\/"},"modified":"2026-09-25T10:54:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T10:54:08","slug":"rick-kriseman-endorsement-completes-charlie-crists-sweep-of-st-petes-living-former-mayors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/410208\/","title":{"rendered":"Rick Kriseman endorsement completes Charlie Crist\u2019s sweep of St. Pete\u2019s living former Mayors"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman is backing Charlie Crist in the race for Mayor, completing a sweep of the city\u2019s living former Mayors in his bid to unseat incumbent Mayor Ken Welch in November.<\/p>\n

Kriseman joins former Mayors Rick Baker<\/a>, Bill Foster and Bob Ulrich<\/a> in endorsing Crist. The group spans party lines. Kriseman is a Democrat, while Baker and Foster are Republicans \u2014 although St. Petersburg\u2019s mayoral election is nonpartisan.<\/p>\n

Kriseman served as Mayor from 2014 through 2021, immediately preceding Welch who took office in 2022. Before leading St. Petersburg, Kriseman served in the House while Crist was Governor.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am pleased to support my friend Charlie Crist for Mayor of St. Petersburg. I served in the State House when Charlie was Governor and greatly appreciated that he always put policy and the people of Florida above politics and party,\u201d Kriseman said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe made time for me on his calendar to discuss policy ideas and pending legislation even though we were of different political parties. I know he will govern the City the same, always putting the people of St. Petersburg and good, thoughtful policy ahead of all else.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

In accepting the endorsement, Crist highlighted their history working together despite political differences. He also expressed gratitude for the bipartisan support he has received from the city\u2019s living former Mayors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cRick and I didn\u2019t always sit on the same side of the aisle, but we always sat at the same table. He loves this city, and he knows what this job asks of you,\u201d Crist said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving every living former Mayor of St. Petersburg in our corner, Democrats and Republicans alike, tells voters something important. This race isn\u2019t about party. It\u2019s about who will make City Hall work for the people who pay for it. I\u2019m grateful to Rick, and I\u2019m ready to keep showing up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kriseman\u2019s endorsement also adds to a string of recent support for Crist from current and former city officials.<\/p>\n

City Council Member Mike Harting<\/a> endorsed Crist this week, becoming the third sitting Council member to do so. Harting joined Council Chair Lisset Hanewicz<\/a> and Council Member Gina Driscoll<\/a> in supporting Crist over Welch.<\/p>\n

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

Crist also has endorsements from former Council Member Ed Montanari, former mayoral candidates Kevin Batdorf<\/a> and Maria Scruggs<\/a>, and other local political and community figures.<\/p>\n

Crist and Welch advanced from a six-way Primary in August, with Crist finishing first with 19,447 votes to Welch\u2019s 11,457. Before voters make their final choice on Nov. 3, the two candidates will meet face-to-face for a televised debate<\/a> on Oct. 13 at 7 p.m. by Spectrum Bay News 9.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman is backing Charlie Crist in the race for Mayor, completing a sweep…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":410209,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[3299,151882,3347,11338,2715,3067,2346,72295,8123,3175,7356,3301,3302,202,204,203,199,201,15767,200],"class_list":["post-410208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-bill-foster","tag-bob-ulrich","tag-charlie-crist","tag-ed-montanari","tag-elections","tag-gina-driscoll","tag-ken-welch","tag-kevin-batdorf","tag-lisset-hanewicz","tag-maria-scruggs","tag-mike-harting","tag-rick-baker","tag-rick-kriseman","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-mayor","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410208","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=410208"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410208\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/410209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=410208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=410208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=410208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}