Charlie Crist and Ken Welch offer competing visions for St. Petersburg as mayor's race heads to Nov. 3 vote

St. Petersburg voters will choose their next mayor on Tuesday, Nov. 3, in a head-to-head runoff between incumbent Mayor Ken Welch and former Gov. Charlie Crist, two former allies who are offering sharply different visions for Florida's fifth-largest city. The candidates split on property taxes, a $600 million flood and sewer bond that shares the ballot, the future of the Tropicana Field site, and the police department's use of Flock license plate cameras.

Crist enters the final week as the clear front-runner. He led a six-candidate primary in August by about 15 points, has dramatically outraised the incumbent and has held a lead of about 20 points in public polling this fall, according to Florida Politics. Welch, the city's first Black mayor, is asking voters for a second term on his record of hurricane recovery, housing and infrastructure work.

How the race got here

The Aug. 18 primary was the first St. Petersburg mayoral race held alongside state and federal elections, after city voters decided in 2022 to move municipal elections to even-numbered years. Because no candidate won a majority in the nonpartisan race, the top two advanced to November. Turnout was about 30.7%, the Tampa Bay Times reported.

Results from the primary, as reported by the Times:

Welch advanced from the 2021 primary with 39% of the vote on his way to a decisive general election win. This time he finished a distant second to Crist, who governed Florida as a Republican from 2007 to 2011 and later served in Congress as a Democrat.

Taxes and the size of City Hall

Affordability has been the center of Crist's campaign. At the race's only televised debate, hosted by Spectrum Bay News 9 on Oct. 13, Crist proposed cutting the city's property tax rate by 0.4 mills, which he estimates would save property owners about $15 million a year, according to Fox 13. He pointed to 262 city positions added during Welch's administration. "That sounds like a bloated government. That sounds like overspending," Crist said.

Welch countered that many of those positions are paid for with utility revenue rather than property taxes and challenged Crist to explain how he would cut without reducing services. "This is a fundamental, you haven't done your homework, Charlie," Welch said, according to Fox 13.

Both candidates oppose Amendment 3, the statewide ballot measure that would expand homestead property tax exemptions. The city estimates the measure could reduce its property tax revenue by $33 million in fiscal year 2028 and $54 million the following year, Fox 13 reported. Welch has warned such losses could force cuts to services including police and fire, while Crist, who has paired his own proposed tax cut with fewer City Hall staffers, has said the city needs to "tighten our belt," according to Fox 13.

The $600 million infrastructure bond

The same ballot asks St. Petersburg voters to approve a new property tax to repay up to $600 million in general obligation bonds for stormwater, wastewater and drinking water upgrades. The City Council approved the ballot language 7-0 in July. Property owners would pay about $96 on the high end for every $100,000 of taxable value, with 30-year bonds issued in stages, the Tampa Bay Times reported.

The city plans $2.7 billion in drainage and water projects regardless of the vote. At current utility rates, the list would take 24 years to complete; with the bond money, the timeline would shrink to about 19 years, according to the Times.

Welch backs the bond, arguing that hurricanes Helene and Milton in 2024 exposed decades of underinvestment. The storms caused historic flooding and led the city to temporarily shut down two of its three sewage plants. "You cannot just wish this away. You cannot kick the can down the road," Welch said at the debate, according to Fox 13. Crist opposes the measure, saying residents are already struggling with rising costs.

The Trop site, the Rays and housing

The future of the roughly 58-acre Historic Gas Plant District around Tropicana Field has become one of the clearest contrasts. Welch has defended his administration's selection of Blake Investment Partners to redevelop the site, saying the plan will deliver housing, jobs and economic opportunity. Crist has proposed appointing a panel to review the redevelopment plans, including options for more parks and green space, Fox 13 reported.

The Rays are building a new ballpark in Tampa on Hillsborough College's Dale Mabry campus, with an opening targeted for 2029. Crist has said St. Petersburg should keep trying to retain the team until construction begins there. The site's fate will be one of the first major decisions facing whoever wins.

On housing, Crist has criticized the cost of city-subsidized projects, singling out the Deuces Rising townhomes, which the St. Pete Catalyst reported cost about $800,000 per unit to build and received about $500,000 per unit in city subsidies. Welch has countered that the city has completed or preserved about 1,000 affordable units with roughly 1,000 more in the pipeline, according to the Catalyst.

Flock cameras, murals and storms

The candidates also disagree over the city's automated license plate readers. Crist said at the debate he would temporarily suspend their use while reviewing privacy safeguards with Police Chief Anthony Holloway, citing the arrest of a Pinellas County deputy accused of misusing license plate data to track a woman. Welch defended the cameras as a tool that has helped police find violent crime suspects, though he said he supports reviewing whether more protections are needed. The city's Flock program began in 2022 and expanded under a five-year contract approved in 2024, Fox 13 reported. The city has said it will keep 44 cameras on city roads after the state ordered readers removed from state highways.

Crist has also criticized Welch for not challenging the state in court over the removal of Pride street murals. Welch said his administration worked with state transportation officials and consulted city attorneys before the murals were removed.

Hurricanes run through both campaigns. Crist has faulted Welch's handling of the 2024 storm recovery, while Welch has criticized Crist for being out of town during those storms and for speaking in what he called platitudes rather than plans, according to the Times.

Money, polls and endorsements

Crist raised a record of more than $2 million heading into the primary, compared with less than $500,000 for Welch, according to WUSF and the Times. Welch's campaign was also set back early in the year when his committee accused its former treasurer of misspending at least $200,000, WUSF reported.

A St. Pete Polls survey of 419 likely voters taken Oct. 13, the day of the debate, found Crist at 53% and Welch at 32% when voters leaning toward a candidate were included, with a margin of error of 4.8 percentage points, Florida Politics reported. A later St. Pete Polls result published Oct. 26 showed a similar gap, with Crist at 54% and Welch at 34% including leaners.

Crist has been endorsed by former Republican Mayor Rick Baker and state Sen. Darryl Rouson, according to WUSF.

What's next

Early voting in Pinellas County runs through Sunday, Nov. 1, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at sites across the county, and polls are open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 3. Voters will decide the mayor's race, the $600 million bond and the statewide Amendment 3 on the same ballot. The winner of the mayor's race will be sworn in on Jan. 7.