St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch and former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist will face off Tuesday in the only televised debate ahead of the Nov. 3 election for mayor.
Spectrum Bay News 9 will broadcast the hourlong debate live from its St. Petersburg studio at 7 p.m. Anchor Holly Gregory will moderate.
Each candidate is allowed to bring a personal cooling fan. Candidates cannot read from a binder. Producers will supply a pen and paper to both candidates at each lectern. Electronics are not allowed.
An executive producer for Spectrum told the Tampa Bay Times that neither the topics nor the questions will be shared with the candidates in advance. A showdown between the two could get into the future of Tropicana Field, water and sewage system upgrades, and the city’s contract with Duke Energy.
Crist finished 14 percentage points ahead of Welch, the incumbent seeking reelection, in the August primary. He has rolled out a steady drumbeat of endorsements from all past living mayors and more City Council members. His fundraising continues to eclipse Welch’s.
Welch has attacked Crist online and in neighborhood forums for not showing up to all candidate events. It’s likely that Welch may make that jab at Tuesday’s debate, given that Crist has campaigned on showing up and being present after a Times analysis found that Welch only went to City Hall 34% of workdays in his first eight months on the job.
Crist turned down a televised debate with Fox 13 scheduled for September that would’ve been held before mail ballots arrived. Crist has pointed out there were forums held before the primary and said he is focused on making direct contact with voters through phone banking and visiting neighborhoods.
“I think it’s important that you show up to talk to people about what your plan actually is‚” Welch said at a candidate forum held by the Historic Kenwood Neighborhood Association last week that drew around 50 people.
The neighborhood’s precinct turned out in the August mayoral primary for City Council member Brandi Gabbard, who finished fourth.
Only three precincts out of 84 in the city voted for a candidate other than Crist or Welch. Kenwood’s precinct is the second largest. Those voters are now up for grabs in the runoff election that will likely see a greater turnout, given that federal and state races are also on the ballot.
Nicholas Igneri, Kenwood’s neighborhood association president, said Crist’s failure to respond to the invitation to the candidate forum — even after the group sent a neighborhood representative to Crist’s campaign headquarters — cost Crist his vote.
“He doesn’t care about Historic Kenwood’s vote,” Igneri said.
Crist said he was not aware of the invitation. He said residents from Kenwood joined him to door knock on Saturday morning.
“The reach of that is greater, which is my goal, than going to a small forum,” Crist said.
Tropicana Field’s future lies with the next mayor
The Tampa Bay Rays are one more playoff series win away from holding a World Series game in a fixed-up Tropicana Field. The Trop reopened in April after Hurricane Milton tore the roof off and drenched the interior, sending the Rays to play last season in Tampa.
The Rays only have two more seasons left in the dome under their current contract. Hillsborough County and Tampa approved a deal that will build a replacement stadium on Hillsborough College’s Dale Mabry campus.
With his own reelection uncertain, Welch this summer selected a team to redevelop the Trop and the land around it, which he calls the Historic Gas Plant District. Binding contracts won’t be ready until next year. Plans include tearing down the Trop, which cost $58 million to fix, though Welch is open to an extension for the Rays.
Crist said he would review all development bids, including the one selected by Welch. Crist has campaigned on keeping the Rays in St. Petersburg or bringing in another professional sports team, such as an NBA or WNBA team.
Debate over new taxes for water and sewer work comes to a head
Welch’s administration crafted an additional property tax to expedite water and sewage system upgrades after the city shut off its sewage plants during 2024’s hurricanes to protect them from further damage.
City voters will decide whether to adopt that additional tax to take out bonds to finance $600 million for those projects. Property owners could pay as much as $96 a year for every $100,000 of taxable property value.
Crist had said he was “leaning maybe yes” on voting in favor of the referendum. But he told Fox 13 in an interview that he is now voting no, citing affordability concerns.
“Upon reflection, I think the citizens of St. Petersburg are too squeezed,” Crist told the Times.
Dumping Duke Energy could be on the 2028 ballot
St. Petersburg’s franchise agreement with Duke Energy expired this year. Activists are pushing the city to sever those ties and set up a city-run power utility.
Members of the Dump Duke movement now want to put the question to voters in 2028. They need 16,200 signatures to get the question on the ballot.
Crist has said it’s not a good idea to part ways with Duke, citing costs that could run up to the billions.
Welch said he is waiting for the results of a feasibility study recently commissioned by the City Council. His administration stated at the time that it had no position on commissioning the study.
How to watch the debate
The debate will also stream on Spectrum’s website, the Spectrum News App on mobile and its YouTube page without a paywall. The debate can also be found on Xumo Stream Box and on Apple and Roku devices.
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