{"id":5191,"date":"2025-10-15T18:12:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T18:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/5191\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T18:12:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T18:12:11","slug":"whispered-rumors-are-getting-louder-charlie-crist-confirms-he-is-mulling-st-pete-mayoral-bid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/5191\/","title":{"rendered":"Whispered rumors are getting louder; Charlie Crist confirms he is mulling St. Pete mayoral bid"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Gov. Charlie Crist is considering a run for St. Petersburg Mayor, the Tampa Bay Times reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rumors have been swirling for weeks that Crist may jump into the race to challenge incumbent Mayor Ken Welch. But Crist \u2014 a former Republican turned independent turned Democrat \u2014 confirmed to the Times that he was considering it. He said he would discuss the matter with family before making a final decision, including with his fianc\u00e9e, Chelsea Grimes.<\/p>\n

If Crist runs, it would be his eighth bid for public office<\/a> in about two decades, including failed bids for U.S. Senate in 2010 and Governor in 2022. He lost the latter race to incumbent Republican Ron DeSantis by nearly 20 percentage points.<\/p>\n

Speculation about Crist is intensifying just one day after St. Pete City Council member Brandi Gabbard, also a Democrat, announced that she would run.<\/p>\n

Only one candidate has actually filed: former St. Pete NAACP leader Maria Scruggs, who has run unsuccessfully several times for public office. Scruggs, so far, not raised the type of funds typically needed to wage a successful mayoral campaign in a major mid-sized city.<\/p>\n

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

Crist\u2019s political career dates back to the early \u201990s, when he served in the Florida Senate as a Republican from 1993 until 1999. He left his seat early to run unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate. He served two years as Florida Education Commissioner, then an elected post, and as Florida Attorney General from 2003 until he was elected Governor in late 2006.<\/p>\n

Crist later lost another U.S. Senate bid in 2010, when he ran as an independent. He ran again for Governor in 2014, as a Democrat, losing to Republican Rick Scott. Crist won election to Florida\u2019s 13th Congressional District in 2016, defeating then-Republican incumbent David Jolly, who is now running for Florida Governor as a Democrat.<\/p>\n

Amid unfavorable redistricting, Crist resigned his seat in Congress<\/a> to run again for Governor, losing in 2022 to DeSantis<\/a>.<\/p>\n

With Gabbard already committing to a bid for Mayor, and Crist mulling one, it\u2019s clear Welch could face a challenge unlike one he has faced in recent memory. His most recent election, against Republican Robert Blackmon for Mayor four years ago, was a blowout. Welch won by more than 20 percentage points<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As a Pinellas County Commissioner, Welch didn\u2019t face opposition at all in 2008 or 2016. In 2012, when he did have a challenger, it was Scruggs, whom he trounced by 29 percentage points.<\/p>\n

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

Crist would bring to the race a level of name recognition that neither Welch nor Gabbard would enjoy. His lengthy political career offers robust name ID in St. Pete and beyond, which would help Crist continue his record as a prolific fundraiser.<\/p>\n

In 2022, when Crist secured the Democratic nomination to challenge DeSantis, he raised $1 million in the first 24 hours<\/a> as the party\u2019s nominee.<\/p>\n

Still, politics in St. Pete and elsewhere are different now<\/a> than in Crist\u2019s heyday. It\u2019s likely Republicans will float a candidate for Mayor, though one has not yet emerged. And while St. Pete remains a liberal bastion in a conservative state, demographics are shifting.<\/p>\n

St. Pete, like the state, is\u00a0bleeding active Democratic voters<\/a>. In 2020, Joe Biden earned more than 97,000 votes in the city, compared to fewer than 59,000 for Donald Trump. Four years later, when Trump defeated Kamala Harris, Harris received just shy of 85,000 votes, while Trump claimed more than 57,000. That means votes for Trump remained relatively static, even if there was a slight drop-off, while support for the Democrat slipped by a far greater margin.<\/p>\n

And now, the St. Pete Mayor\u2019s race will occur for the first time in an even-numbered year, meaning turnout will likely be higher and more consistent with such Presidential Election numbers.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no way to know how that will affect the 2026 Mayor\u2019s race, but it\u2019s clear the plot only continues to thicken for Welch, who is now facing a challenge and a potential challenge from two allies. Both Gabbard and Crist endorsed him just four years ago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Gov. Charlie Crist is considering a run for St. Petersburg Mayor, the Tampa Bay Times reported. Rumors…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5192,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[3300,3347,2346,3175,3349,412,202,204,3303,3304,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-5191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-brandi-gabbard","tag-charlie-crist","tag-ken-welch","tag-maria-scruggs","tag-robert-blackmon","tag-ron-desantis","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-mayors-race","tag-st-pete-mayoral-race","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\/5191","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=5191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5191\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}