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Endorses Crist
The race
St. Petersburg holds a mayoral runoff on November 3, 2026. In the August 18 primary's six-candidate field, former Governor Charlie Crist took 35.19% (19,436 votes) and incumbent Mayor Ken Welch took 20.73% (11,451), ahead of former Fire Chief Jim Large (17.84%) and Councilmember Brandi Gabbard (17.63%). Neither reached 50%, so the top two meet again. The race is nonpartisan; both men are Democrats, and both have history here — Welch is the city's first Black mayor, elected in 2021; Crist is a St. Petersburg native who has represented the city in Congress.
Ken Welch — Incumbent. Welch's credit column: four years of governing through, in his debate words, "five hurricanes," with recovery work to show; a refreshed Manhattan Casino reopened in the city's Black community; a selected $8.7 billion redevelopment plan for the 86-acre Historic Gas Plant District around Tropicana Field; and a concrete infrastructure answer — an additional property tax on this same November ballot to borrow $600 million for water and sewage upgrades, after the city shut off sewage plants during 2024's hurricanes to protect them. Homeowners would pay as much as $96 a year per $100,000 of taxable value. His dirt column is equally concrete. The Tampa Bay Rays — the stadium negotiation that defined his term — left for Tampa, a deal "celebrated across the bay" while St. Pete kept the empty Trop, which cost $58 million to repair. Crist charges that Welch mismanaged hurricane recovery; Welch's own primary number is the coldest fact in the race: an incumbent mayor took 20.73% in his own reelection primary. Welch attacks Crist's plan as "platitudes" — "We've done the planning, we've done the work. Seems to me he's done no planning" — and notes that nearly a third of Crist's roughly $1.8–2 million fundraising (a record for this race) comes from Republicans and much of it from outside the city. That funding observation is Welch's charge, printed as such.
Charlie Crist — Challenger. Crist's résumé is the longest in Florida politics: state senator (1993-99), education commissioner (2001-03), attorney general (2003-07), governor (2007-11), and U.S. representative for this district (2017-22). The dirt is the famous part, and it is proven by his own biography: elected governor as a Republican, he left the party in 2010 to run for Senate as an independent (lost to Marco Rubio by 19 points), became a Democrat in 2012, lost the governorship to Rick Scott in 2014 and to Ron DeSantis in 2022. Opponents in every party call that opportunism; the record supports calling it serial reinvention, and voters should price it. His credits in this campaign: endorsements from all four living former St. Petersburg mayors — Republicans Bill Foster and Bob Ulrich and Democrat Rick Kriseman among them — three sitting council members, eliminated candidates Kevin Batdorf and Maria Scruggs, and a 14-point primary win. His fiscal pledges are specific in one place that matters most here: he says he would roll back the property tax rate to return $14.8 million to residents and small businesses (a figure he told the Tampa Bay Times he was "advised was a good number" — sourced to friends who studied the budget, and priced accordingly), and he is voting no on Welch's $600 million utility tax, saying "the citizens of St. Petersburg are too squeezed." On the Trop, he pledges a blue-ribbon panel to review Welch's $8.7 billion selection and campaigns on keeping the Rays or landing another pro team; on the city's expired Duke Energy franchise, he opposes a municipal utility takeover on cost grounds.
Pros and cons
Welch: Pros: An incumbent who governed through five hurricanes; a funded, specific plan for the city's failing water and sewage systems; the Gas Plant redevelopment selection completed. Cons: Lost the Rays to Tampa on his watch; the incumbent took barely a fifth of his own primary vote; his infrastructure answer is a new property tax on residents already squeezed; hurricane recovery management is credibly contested by his challenger. Crist: Pros: Governor, attorney general, and congressman for this city; bipartisan former-mayor endorsements; a property-tax rollback pledge and a no vote on the new utility tax; won the primary by 14 points. Cons: A proven, decades-long pattern of party-switching and office-seeking (Republican to independent to Democrat; Senate and governor losses in 2010, 2014, 2022) that voters must weigh as a character record; a campaign Welch fairly notes is light on detailed plans, with his $14.8 million figure sourced to unnamed advisers.
Record gaps
- Crist's transition "deep dive" means several specifics (Gas Plant review criteria, housing plan) do not exist in written form yet; we price what he has pledged and note the rest as absent, not invented.
OUR CALL
Our call: endorse Charlie Crist. Both finalists are Democrats, so this call is comparative, and the comparison runs on money and results. Welch asks St. Petersburg to pay a new property tax because his administration's planning did not keep the Rays, the sewage system, or the Trop from becoming crises; his 20.73% primary finish is his own electorate's verdict on that record. Crist's party-switching is a genuine character flaw and we print it at full weight — but he is the candidate pledging tax relief instead of a new tax, opposing a costly municipal utility adventure, and carrying the endorsements of every living former mayor of both parties. Flawed and experienced beats earnest and expensive.
Vote Crist.
For the complete Election 2026 breakdown — every race, claim by claim — see the full coverage on our website. Vote early. Research your candidates. Choose the best moderates, whatever their party — no extremism from either side. And encourage your friends and family to do the same. --- Sources — - Wikipedia — 2026 St. Petersburg, Florida, mayoral election (primary results: Crist 19,436 / 35.19%, Welch 11,451 / 20.73%; runoff endorsements) — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_St._Petersburg,_Florida,_mayoral_election - Tampa Bay Times — "As Ken Welch nears end of his 1st term, what's left?" (Sept. 19, 2026; Rays departure, Manhattan Casino, Gas Plant, utility tax) — https://tampabaytimes-tampa-bay-times.cdn.zephr.com/news/florida-politics/elections/2026/09/19/ken-welch-charlie-crist-st-petersburg-tropicana-field-manhattan-casino/ - Tampa Bay Times — "If Charlie Crist is St. Petersburg's next mayor, what's his plan?" (Aug. 30, 2026; $14.8M rollback figure and its sourcing) — https://tampabaytimes-tampa-bay-times.cdn.zephr.com/news/st-petersburg/2026/08/30/charlie-crist-mayor-ken-welch-plan-platform-rays-moffitt/ - Tampa Bay Times — debate preview (Oct. 12, 2026; $600M utility bond tax math, Crist's no vote, Duke Energy positions) — https://tampabaytimes-tampa-bay-times.cdn.zephr.com/news/florida-politics/elections/2026/10/12/st-pete-mayor-debate-welch-crist/ - The Floridian — "Charlie Crist is Back! Running for Mayor of St. Petersburg" (April 2026; full office history and party-switch timeline) — https://floridianpress.com/2026/04/charlie-crist-is-back-running-for-mayor-of-st-petersburg/ - Fox 13 News — "St. Petersburg mayoral race: Ken Welch, Charlie Crist expected to head to runoff" (fundraising and Welch's outside-money charge) — https://fox13news.com/news/st-petersburg-mayoral-race-ken-welch-charlie-crist-expected-head-runoff-ahead-august-vote
Result pending. No verified call (Associated Press or official) as of November 4, 2026. This page will be updated when the race is called or certified. The original article above is unchanged.
AI-assisted article — but the sources are human, and the facts are very real.