In a big week for his St. Petersburg mayoral campaign, Ken Welch hosted an online campaign launch and announced he would raise $ 57,100 in January, his first full month as a candidate.
Welch also easily led in a poll of the race, though undecided by a large majority.
Opponent Darden Rice, meanwhile, has not announced any fundraising figures for January, even though her month-long fundraiser has given her a financial head start.
Member of the St. Petersburg City Council, Darden Rice.
Instead, it announced an endorsement of the LGBTQ Victory Fund, which describes itself as the only national organization dedicated to the election of gay officials at all levels of government and capable of making contributions nationwide.
Rice was the first openly gay candidate for office in Pinellas County with an unsuccessful 2005 city council race before winning her city council seat in 2013.
Welch raised $ 28,600 in his Political Action Committee and $ 28,500 for his campaign in January, bringing him to $ 104,000 in cash in the two accounts.
Rice had about $ 191,000 in her PAC in late December and has not yet filed a financial report for her campaign.
A poll by Matt Towery and Insider Advantage for WTVT-Ch. 13 broadcasters showed little public awareness of the candidates – 67 percent were undecided.
Welch led with 11.7 percent, former MP Wengay Newton with 7.6 percent and Rice with 7 percent. Potential candidates Robert Blackmon received 6.2 percent and Deveron Gibbons 0.3 percent.
The survey of 400 registered voters, carried out using robocalls and cell phone calls, showed an error rate of 4.2 points.
Towery conclusion: Although Welch had a lead close to the error rate: “It really is everyone’s race to win. No member of the city council is known, and we’re so far out right now that it doesn’t cross the minds of voters. “
Participants seen or listed by the campaign at Welch’s online launch included US Rep. Charlie Crist; Kerry Kriseman, wife of Temporary Mayor Rick Kriseman; District Commissioners Rene Flowers, Janet Long, and Karen Seel; Former Defense Attorney Bob Dillinger, Former Sheriff Jim Coats, and Former President of St. Petersburg College Bill Law.
A sixth candidate, Marcile Powers, has now registered for the race. She and two other submitted candidates, Michael Ingram and Vincent Nowicki, were not included in the survey.
Marcile Powers, 34, has applied for the mayor of St. Petersburg. She is a former political agent and marketer who grew up in Bradenton and has lived in St. Petersburg for seven years. [ Marcile Powers ]
Powers, 34, is a former political agent and marketer who grew up in Bradenton and has lived in St. Petersburg for seven years. She runs an organic food business with her husband Keevy McAlavy. You have two young children and live in Kenwood.
She said she was running “to make sure St. Petersburg remains an inclusive, green city” and because “I want to talk about topics and have fun”.
She advocates making the city the starting point for a nationwide monorail system, replacing invasive plants with fruit trees to create a “food forest”, and repairing the city’s run-down sewage system.
Hanewicz files in District 4
Former prosecutor, trial attorney and lawyer for the Crescent Lake district, Lisset Hanewicz, has requested that the seat of the St. Petersburg City Council in the 4th district of Darden Rice be vacated.
Former prosecutor, trial attorney and lawyer for the Crescent Lake district, Lisset Hanewicz, has requested that the seat of the St. Petersburg City Council in the 4th district of Darden Rice be vacated. [ Lisset Hanewicz ]
Hanewicz said it is running in part to focus on the neighborhoods as the city grows and the downtown area flourishes.
As the president of the Crescent Lake Neighborhood Association, “I saw how much my skills as an attorney helped the association,” she said.
“The city is growing tremendously and it’s great what’s happening downtown, but we have to keep our neighborhoods special and make sure the benefits of the growth spread to other parts of the city.”
When redeveloping the Tropicana field site, she said, “We need to make sure we incorporate the history of the site and keep the promises so that the surrounding neighborhood benefits.”
Hanewicz, 50, is the daughter of a Cuban family in exile who grew up in Phoenix, lived in Tampa and has been in St. Petersburg since 2006. She and her husband have two children.
She says she worked full-time while graduating from high school at night, then got a BA and MBA from Florida International University and a law degree from the University of Florida.
She has worked as a Pinellas-Pasco and federal prosecutor and criminal defense attorney. She co-founded the Friends of Woodlawn Elementary School.
Chef and bartender Clifford Hobbs III has been enrolled in the District 4 race since August, while two other candidates have retired.
Contact William March at [email protected].
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