{"id":427035,"date":"2026-10-13T23:02:19","date_gmt":"2026-10-13T23:02:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/427035\/"},"modified":"2026-10-13T23:02:19","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T23:02:19","slug":"fentrice-driskell-copley-gerdes-endorse-trevor-mallory-for-st-pete-city-council","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/427035\/","title":{"rendered":"Fentrice Driskell, Copley Gerdes endorse Trevor Mallory for St. Pete City Council"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sen.-elect Fentrice Driskell<\/a> and St. Petersburg City Council Member Copley Gerdes are endorsing Trevor Mallory for City Council, adding two prominent political supporters to his campaign ahead of the Nov. 3 General Election.<\/p>\n

The endorsements add to Mallory\u2019s political backing since his second-place finish to Linsey Grove in the August Primary for the District 6 seat, with former opponents and elected officials lining up behind his campaign.<\/p>\n

Gerdes becomes the second sitting Council Member to endorse Mallory, joining term-limited District 6 incumbent Gina Driscoll. His father, former Council Member Charlie Gerdes<\/a>, also recently endorsed Mallory, putting two generations of the Gerdes family behind his campaign.<\/p>\n

Driskell defeated Rep. Michele Rayner in the Democratic Primary for Senate District 16 and will succeed retiring Sen. Darryl Rouson, who has also endorsed Mallory. Driskell currently represents House District 67, covering parts of Hillsborough County, and serves as House Democratic Leader. Her new Senate district includes parts of St. Petersburg.<\/p>\n

Driskell previously worked with Mallory when he served as President of the Democratic Black Caucus of Florida, and highlighted that experience as a reason for her support.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cTrevor Mallory proved to be a strong advocate for affordability, smart economic growth, and opportunity for all during his time as President of the Democratic Black Caucus of Florida,\u201d Driskell said. \u201cTrevor is no-nonsense and deeply-rooted in his local community. That\u2019s the kind of ally I want as we fight to build a better Florida together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mallory has also secured endorsements from St. Petersburg\u2019s three most recent former Mayors<\/a> \u2014 Rick Kriseman, Bill Foster and Rick Baker \u2014 along with former Council Members Frank Peterman, Ed Montanari, Jim Kennedy and Karl Nurse. Other supporters include Rep.-elect Kyandra Darling, Rep. Daryl Campbell, former Rep. Ben Diamond, Pinellas County Commissioner Rene Flowers and the Suncoast Police Benevolent Association.<\/p>\n

His local backing includes former St. Petersburg NAACP President Maria Scruggs, business owner Pete Boland and three Gulfport Council members \u2014 Marlene Shaw, Nancy Earley and Jennifer Daunch. All three candidates eliminated in the August Primary \u2014 Terri Balliet, Jameka Williams and Doug Homeyer \u2014 have also endorsed Mallory.<\/p>\n

Mallory, a Lakewood High School graduate and former professional baseball player, leads Neighborhood Home Solutions, a nonprofit focused on homeownership and foreclosure prevention. He previously worked for the city\u2019s Parks Department and served on advisory boards addressing housing and redistricting.<\/p>\n

Grove finished first in the five-candidate August Primary with about 1,900 votes, compared to Mallory\u2019s 1,500.<\/p>\n

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

Unlike the Primary, which was limited to District 6 residents, the Nov. 3 General Election will be decided by voters citywide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sen.-elect Fentrice Driskell and St. Petersburg City Council Member Copley Gerdes are endorsing Trevor Mallory for City Council,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":427036,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[3299,163965,7354,820,12665,3067,6773,596,3301,3302,202,204,203,199,1640,98044,201,200,76055],"class_list":["post-427035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-bill-foster","tag-charlie-gerdes","tag-copley-gerdes","tag-darryl-rouson","tag-fentrice-driskell","tag-gina-driscoll","tag-linsey-grove","tag-pinellas-county","tag-rick-baker","tag-rick-kriseman","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-city-council","tag-st-petersburg-elections","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news","tag-trevor-mallory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427035","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=427035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427035\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/427036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}