St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch is suing political operative Peter Schorsch for accusing him of cheating on his wife with the woman who became his deputy mayor in a since-deleted online post.
Schorsch volunteers and does paid work for Welch’s reelection opponent, former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist. The lawsuit filed Thursday in Pinellas County Circuit Court comes days before Tuesday’s election and punctuates an ugly race between two former political allies.
Welch’s lawsuit accuses Schorsch of defamation. He demands a trial by jury and damages in excess of $50,000. The 14-page complaint accuses Schorsch of standing “to benefit, personally, financially, and politically, from damaging Mayor Welch’s candidacy.”
Schorsch’s wife, Michelle Todd Schorsch, is the chairperson of St. Pete Shines, the political committee raising money for Crist’s bid.
On July 23, Schorsch wrote a post titled “Stephanie Owens” on his personal Facebook page. Owens ran Welch’s 2021 mayoral campaign. Welch later tapped her as his deputy mayor.
“He cheated on his wife with Owens,” Schorsch commented beneath his post, according to screenshots included in the lawsuit. “Please prove me wrong. Take me to court and let’s do discovery. Please!”
According to expenditures reported to the state, St. Pete Shines paid close to $1 million to businesses owned by the Schorsches for campaign work. Schorsch said that money is paid to vendors for services. He has routinely criticized Welch through his Florida Politics website.
“Lawsuits in the last days of the campaign are a tradition. It’s usually by someone like the mayor who can see where the race is headed,” Schorsch said in a phone interview Friday with the Tampa Bay Times. “I feel like this is an effort to blame me for his own failings. I do think this is an effort to intimidate me as a journalist.”
Schorsch said his attorneys are taking a look at Florida’s anti-SLAPP laws, which are intended to prevent people from using courts and threats of a lawsuit to intimidate anyone exercising the First Amendment right to free speech. Schorsch said that would allow him to recover any fees for mounting a defense. SLAPP stands for strategic lawsuits against public participation.
Schorsch said he is missing out on work he could be doing for other candidates by volunteering to help Crist win.
“That is not accurate to say that I benefit in any way by Charlie Crist or any candidate running against Ken Welch,” he said, adding that he may countersue Welch for the claim that he’s making money from damaging Welch’s candidacy.
To win reelection Tuesday, Welch must overcome a 14-percentage-point gap between him and Crist, who was the front-runner in August’s six-way primary.
Welch said the timing of the lawsuit had nothing to do with the election.
“This is personal. It’s my reputation. It’s my family,” Welch said. “Regardless of the election, we’re moving forward with this.”
Asked if Schorsch harmed his reelection campaign, “It impacted my family, first and foremost, from the night it was written. I’m sure there were other impacts as well,” Welch said. “Bottom line, it was a lie, it was harmful and we’re seeking justice through the courts like we said we would.”
Welch’s attorney, Robert Persante, said the case stands on solid ground.
“Mayor Welch felt very strongly that filing this lawsuit was the right thing to do,” Persante said.
He said the lawsuit was not timed for purposes of the election. “I think this was filed purposely to bring the truth out,” Persante said.
Schorsch deleted the post about an hour after posting it. He said a supporter of Welch and Crist asked for him to take it down.
According to the lawsuit, four days later, he wrote a comment beneath a public Facebook post by Creative Loafing Tampa that said he had more than two sources contact him about an inappropriate relationship between Welch and Owens.
“I stand by what I was alluding to: that Welch is a compromised politician who … has a blind spot in his personal relations,” Schorsch wrote, according to the lawsuit.
Owens did not respond to two calls and a text message seeking comment Friday afternoon.
Schorsch said that taking down the post proves he had no actual malice, a legal term that requires proof that the defendant published a false statement knowing it was false or with reckless disregard for the truth. It’s the standard a public official must show to prove defamation.
“If he really believed there was actual malice, he would’ve sued a long time ago about any number of stories,” he said.
Court filings show Schorsch received a letter Sept. 21 from Persante demanding a retraction. Schorsch said he responded with a request for what that would look like and hasn’t heard back. He said he has not been served with the lawsuit and found out about it after another attorney alerted him.
Schorsch said he did not report the rumors of the alleged affair back in 2021 because he supported Welch for mayor at the time.
He said Welch further exacerbated the affair allegation. After Schorsch’s social media post, Welch uploaded a video vehemently denying any inappropriate relationship, and later brought it up at a public candidate forum. Welch called on Crist to “condemn the lie.”
Crist previously told the Times that he has nothing to do with the matter and said the issue was between the two men. Crist has said that he hired Schorsch’s wife, not her husband, and that he is not associated with Schorsch, a regular at campaign events.
“Ken weaponized it. It would’ve died that night,” Schorsch said. “Ken, down in the polls, wanted to make himself a victim and turned it into a campaign weapon.”
.subtext-iframe{max-width:540px;}iframe#subtext_embed{width:1px;min-width:100%;min-height:750px;}
fetch(“https://raw.githubusercontent.com/alpha-group/iframe-resizer/master/js/iframeResizer.min.js”).then(function(r){return r.text();}).then(function(t){return new Function(t)();}).then(function(){iFrameResize({heightCalculationMethod:”lowestElement”},”#subtext_embed”);});
• • •
Tampa Bay Times Election Coverage
- 2026 midterms voter guide: Get information on candidates in Tampa Bay and across Florida
- A property tax proposal and more: All 3 Florida amendments on the ballot, explained
- Governor candidate stances: Clashing ideas of David Jolly and Byron Donalds put Florida at crossroads
- 3 reasons: Here’s why David Jolly could win the governor’s race, and here’s why Byron Donalds could
- Florida polling averages: governor and Senate
- Redistricting: A snapshot of each of Tampa Bay’s new congressional districts
- St. Pete mayor’s race: 5 takeaways from the primary results
- On St. Petersburg ballots: A breakdown of referenda and charter amendments coming before city voters
