In any case, the League of Women Voters of the St. Petersburg area has announced they'll be moderating mayoral and city council forums set for the end of September — roughly a month after Tuesday's doozy of a primary election.
On Monday, Sept. 25, the nonpartisan group plans on moderating a forum for candidates in the three St. Pete City Council districts up for a vote in November. The following day, they'll moderate a forum between the two mayoral candidates, incumbent Mayor Rick Kriseman and former Mayor Rick Baker.
Each takes place at St. Petersburg City Hall at 6:30 p.m. (doors at 6).
Popcorn, unfortunately, is probably not allowed — but we're guessing the thing will be live-streamed on the city's website, so you can popcorn all you like and play the drinking game of your choice. (We recommend CL's official mayoral debate Bingo card if you didn't use it at the July Bay News 9/Tampa Bay Times debate; it's still relevant.)
Since Tuesday's election outcome, in which Kriseman unexpectedly took first over Baker by 69 votes, things have been relatively quiet (the candidates and their staff/volunteers/backers probably need to recharge their batteries, after all), though it seems likely things will swiftly pick up after some Labor Day Weekend chill time.
There's still tension in the council District 6 race, which was supposed to whittle a roster with eight candidates down to two. Two candidates in that race, Robert Blackmon and Gina Driscoll, nearly tied for second place, and the Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections is expected to announce who will make the November runoff on Friday. Justin Bean took first in that one.
The upcoming candidate forum will also be a chance for the District 2 candidates to make their cases. Since there are only two candidates in that race (and in that of District 4, in which Council Chair Darden Rice is a pretty safe incumbent), there was no primary and thus little to no media attention. The two candidates in that race, Brandi Gabbard and Barclay Harless, will also take part in a Suncoast Tiger Bay Club Forum Sept. 7.
This article appears in Aug 24-31, 2017.