Tuesday afternoon, St. Pete Mayor Rick Kriseman walked up to a polling place just east of the intersection of 66th and Central, accompanied by his wife, 18-year-old daughter (about to cast her first ballot) and a service dog-in-training named Kristy, a black lab puppy.

Before he went in to cast his vote, he stopped to chat with a couple of reporters about his thoughts going into election night. While the mayor was mum on which circles he'd be filling in on his ballot, he did talk about his hopes for relations between the council and the mayor's office, which have seen some strain in recent months.

“I certainly expect that we're going to continue to do things together and work on improving our relationship," he said. "And relationships are two-sided. So we'll work on improving that, and in the long run that's what's best for the city and so hopefully whatever happens today will be a positive.”

Probably the biggest hurdle in mending that relationship is the Tampa Bay Rays stadium deal, which would make it easier for the team to vacate Tropicana Field earlier and at less of a cost than some think is fair.

The issue became central to today's election, so much so that the Tampa Bay Times largely based its endorsements on how candidates would likely vote on the issue. The paper even refused to endorse respected District 5 incumbent Steve Kornell because of his assertion that the team ought to pay more than it's offering the city to let it explore stadium sites in Hillsborough County.

Kriseman, who on Monday endorsed Lisa Wheeler-Brown in the heated District 7 race, said her likely support of a deal like the one council voted down last year (and her opponent Will Newton's opposition to it) was not his reason for backing her.

“I think it's a big issue, no question, but there's a lot of issues in this city," he said. "We have to work on what is going on in South St. Petersburg and the Skyway Marina area, West St. Petersburg out here. There's a lot going on in the city and it's one issue that certainly warrants consideration. But I've never been a person who has advocated for single-issue voting. So I wouldn't advocate for people to do that now.”

He maintains that the mud-slinging that came to define the race — and one mail piece in particular — was what motivated him to make the endorsement.

As for trying to improve the tone at City Hall, Kriseman said the fix is simple.

“Communication, really, is what it comes down to,” he said.

This article appears in Oct 29 – Nov 4, 2015.