St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch said he is filing paperwork to run for reelection in two weeks and announced his campaign kickoff is planned for next month.
Welch made the announcement at Tiger Bay’s State of the Bay Jan. 27. The annual forum features the big three mayors in the region: Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, Clearwater Mayor Bruce Rector and Welch. He said his kickoff is scheduled for Feb. 18.
“We’re going to run on our record,“ Welch said in response to an audience question about upcoming mayoral elections. ”We faced challenges like no other administration has faced: the combination of COVID, the historic Gas Plant, four hurricanes, the recovery.
“We put together, I think, an incredible team,” he said. “We’re cited as the best run government in the state of Florida twice by WalletHub.”
Welch faces a rough road to reelection. The political committee supporting him is missing $207,500 and has accused its former treasurer of misspending the money.
In the audience at the Tiger Bay forum was City Council member Brandi Gabbard, who told the Tampa Bay Times she will file to run this spring. She said she is affiliated with Forward Together PAC, which was created in July and has $3,600, though Gabbard said she was not actively raising money through the holidays.
Gabbard said she’s working hard in the last year of her second term on the council so she can hit the ground running in the mayor’s office on permitting, sticking with the city’s environmental goals and prioritizing funding for water and stormwater systems.
“It’s a big job and you need to report in every day,” she said.
Former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, who also has served as a congressman and has all but officially filed to run, raised $725,145 through a new political committee, though $366,458 was rolled over from a former political account.
Maria Scruggs, the only official candidate to file, has raised $22,874 between her own political committee and campaign account, but she has spent most of it. She called on Welch to drop out over repeated issues with his political committees.
The primary election is set for Aug. 18 with a runoff Nov. 3.
“I’m always proud to run on the record,” Welch said. “I couldn’t be prouder of the team that we put together. And so that’s my take on the race.”
