Charlie Crist in this year’s St Pete Pride parade. (Watermark Out News file photo)
ST. PETERSBURG | Republican support for Charlie Crist is drawing scrutiny ahead of next month’s election for St. Petersburg mayor, a nonpartisan race between the former governor and incumbent Ken Welch, a fellow Democrat.
Each candidate advanced in the race Aug. 18, when neither received more than the 50% required to avoid a runoff. Crist received 35.19% of the vote while Welch received 20.73%.
Welch was endorsed by LGBTQ+ groups Equality Florida Action PAC and the Stonewall Democrats of Pinellas County ahead of the election. Some local advocates, meanwhile, noted that Crist was endorsed by former St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker.
The Republican led St. Petersburg from 2001-2010, when critics note he showed little support for the region’s LGBTQ+ community. Then-City Councilmember Rick Kriseman did, however, and the LGBTQ+ ally eventually served two inclusive terms as mayor.
Kriseman endorsed Crist Sept. 25, the last of St. Petersburg’s four living mayors to do so. Republicans Bob Ulrich and Bill Foster have backed Crist’s efforts.
“If I am elected, the LGBTQ community will not have to wonder where their mayor stands,” Crist told Watermark Out News after Baker’s endorsement. “They will have an ally in City Hall, and they will have one on day one.
“On the endorsement, this is a nonpartisan race and I have said from the beginning that I am running to restart the progress that made St. Pete great, not to run a partisan campaign,” he continued. “Mayor Baker and I do not agree on everything. Support for the LGBTQ community is one of the places where we have differed, and I am not going to pretend otherwise.”
Crist has also touted endorsements from “Republican leaders for Crist.” He noted leadership “is about earning trust, not party labels” in July.
The group includes Baker and Chris Kise, Florida’s former solicitor general. He served as a counselor to Crist when he was a Republican governor, joined Governor Ron DeSantis’ 2018 transition team and joined President Donald Trump’s legal team in 2022.
Stonewall Democrats President Laura Gerken says she is “very proud of our decision early in the race to stand with the mayor.” She notes that “our process, which Mr. Crist also took part in, was in-depth, and we saw then what others are seeing now: Charlie Crist’s election would not benefit LGBTQ+ people in St. Pete.”
Gerken also points to a Tampa Bay Times interview in which Crist was asked about his support for Democrats running for Florida governor and U.S. Senate. He said he would “probably” support David Jolly and hadn’t made a decision between Angie Nixon and Republican Ashley Moody.
“I like sort of down the middle people, not too strident one way or the other,” Crist told the outlet. “I think we have too much of that in our politics today. I think common sense is important and should be valued. I value it.”
Watermark Out News reached out to the Crist campaign which confirmed he will back Jolly. Michelle Todd, senior political strategist, touted his support from St. Petersburg’s former mayors and three members of City Council — Lissett Hanewicz, Gina Driscoll and Mike Harting — but did not confirm he would back Nixon.
“I think Charlie was clear when he said he’d do his research,” she said. When asked for clarification the campaign did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
“St. Petersburg’s LGBTQ+ community deserves to know where I stand and where Charlie Crist stands,” Welch says. “If people with anti-LGBTQ+ records are backing Charlie, he should tell residents whether he rejects their positions and whether they would have a voice in his administration.
“He should also give a clear answer about whether he will vote for Angie Nixon for U.S. Senate. I have publicly stated my support for Rep. Nixon,” the mayor adds. “Those are straightforward questions, and St. Petersburg voters deserve straightforward answers.”
Welch also pledges to support St. Petersburg’s LGBTQ+ community in a second term. Crist has done the same if elected mayor.
The race for St. Petersburg mayor will take place Nov. 3. For more information about each campaign, visit CharlieCrist.com and KenWelch.com.
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