St. Pete mayoral race

And here locally, one of the big races we're watching is the St. Petersburg mayor's race, and our Kelly Cowan has been covering that for us all morning long. Hey, Kel. Good morning to you. It has been a busy day here in downtown Saint Pete. We're just outside the Coliseum, which is one of the busiest polling locations in the entire city. That's because there are actually eight precincts that report here to vote on election day. So this has been a very buzzy place to be. We've seen a steady stream of voters all morning long. But of course, the big race here in Saint Pete is that for the mayor of Saint Pete. Now, two familiar faces are pitted against each other here. You have the incumbent mayor, Ken Welch. ...facing the former governor of Florida in Charlie Crist, also a St. Pete native. And this race is nonpartisan. Both men here are registered Democrats, although it should be noted Crist did serve under the Republican flag in several elected positions within the state, including as governor. Before he switched parties in the mid aughts. Now their visions for Saint Pete differ in a few key ways as well. Chris has focused his campaign on affordability. He says he wants to reduce taxes and government spending by cutting staff and pension reform. Welch, meanwhile, calls. The tax cut unrealistic at a time when St. Pete is facing billions in needed stormwater repairs and upgrades. That's another item that St. Pete voters are going to find on the ballot. Now their visions for the 86 acre gas plant district redevelopment plan is also a point where they differ. Welch has picked a developer for that site and The plan moves away from baseball and toward a mixed use business district with more workforce and affordable housing. Chris, though, says he would not give up on the Rays and he would want to reconsider that development plan. If that happens, then he would become the third mayor in Saint Pete to change up the plan for that site. Now I was able to catch up with both candidates earlier and here's what they had to say as far as their last minute appeals to voters. My experience, the fact that I've been here on the ground in the community during our most challenging times, from COVID to five hurricanes to the destruction of Tropicana Field, the issue of housing, which all along this corridor you see new housing that we've put in place. I've been here doing the work. I have a plan and part of that plan is on the ballot this time for the general obligation bond to fix our stormwater system. My opponent doesn't have plans, he hasn't been here during the toughest times we've faced. We're going to work harder, we're going to show up, we're going to fight for the Rays, we're going to do everything we can to get Moffitt to come back here for cancer care and all the right things. Just do what's right, do the right thing. What's that guy's name, Spike Lee? Had a movie? Do the right thing. That's what we're going to do, the right thing. Well, in August, in that primary, Chris ended up leading the field by 15 points. And the latest St. Pete poll survey shows that he's up by a wider margin, 21% of the vote. And many of those who were polled reported that they had, in fact, already voted. Some 60% said that they had already cast their ballot. We've seen that the voter turnout here in Pinellas County is quite high as far as early voting is concerned, about 45% of those eligible voters. And we're seeing, as I said, a robust turnout. Now, the polls are open, of course, until 7 p.m. As long as you are in line by that cutoff point, you will get the chance to cast your ballot. Hey, Kel, before I let you go, you mentioned that the early voting numbers were high, and it's also people are out there voting today. But it's always interesting to me, especially in Florida, where they make it so easy to vote early, how many people are still left to vote. But you're saying you're seeing people? That's right. We are seeing a lot of people. And as I mentioned earlier, this precinct location has eight precincts that actually report here. So this is going to be the place where you do see the most activity here. We were at another precinct location a little bit earlier and you did see a trickle. You only saw about four people waiting in line to get in to be the first ones to vote here. The difference being that there were about 60 people in line. So you can kind of do the math there. But yes, many people still wait until Election Day to cast their ballots. Thank you.