Democrat Charlie Crist, the former Florida governor and congressman, officially filed paperwork this week to run for mayor of St. Petersburg. Crist announced his filing outside City Hall.
"Well, it’s official. I'm now a candidate for mayor of St. Pete. God bless you all," Crist said.
Crist, 69, served as governor of Florida as a Republican from 2007 to 2011. He later represented Florida's 13th congressional district as a Democrat from 2017 to 2022.
He also served in the Florida Senate from 1993 to 1999, as Florida education commissioner from 2001 to 2003, and as Florida attorney general from 2003 to 2007, all as a Republican.
Crist is running against incumbent Mayor Ken Welch and several other candidates, including St. Petersburg City Councilwoman Brandi Gabbard, former NAACP St. Petersburg Branch President Maria Scruggs, and former St. Petersburg Fire Chief Jim Large.
Welch has been mayor since 2022. He announced a run for a second term in February.
St. Petersburg's mayoral race is technically nonpartisan, and that is new for Crist, who became a Republican in the mid-1980s.
But things changed.
Crist switched his affiliation from Republican to Democrat in 2012 after a two-year stint as an Independent from 2010 to 2012. Before the switch, Crist ran in the 2010 U.S. Senate Republican primary against Marco Rubio, but dropped out to run as an Independent.
He lost to Rubio by 19 points. Crist also ran as a Republican for U.S. Senate in 1998 against Democrat Bob Graham, losing by nearly 25 points.
Crist, after serving as governor, ran unsuccessfully for the job in 2014, losing to former Republican Gov. Rick Scott, and again in 2022, losing to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.
As a Democrat, Crist defeated former Republican David Jolly in the District 13 congressional election back in 2016. Notably, Jolly is running as a Democrat in the gubernatorial race.
So, if you're keeping track, Crist officially can't win or lose as a Republican or Democrat, and instead has a clean slate to go 1-0 in the nonpartisan mayor's race. Maybe that's a good thing, despite Crist's political leaning.
St. Petersburg is located west of Tampa on the west coast.
The mayoral election is on Aug. 18, 2026. If no candidate receives over 50% of the vote, a runoff election will take place on Nov. 3.
Morgan and Morgan doesn’t want him?