On Monday, Gina Driscoll became the ninth person to jump into the contest for the seat Councilman Karl Nurse is vacating due to term limits. That brings the total of candidates to eight, given that one-time contender John Johnson dropped out last week.
Driscoll is president of the St. Petersburg Downtown Neighborhood Association and is involved in numerous other organizations. A press release announcing her candidacy sent out Monday lists the Hampton Inn & Suites Downtown on Beach Drive as her place of work.
It's unclear what exactly her politics are — municipal races' being nonpartisan in nature don't help, either.
But her being on the board of the Downtown Business Association and her involvement with the St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce suggest an alignment with, well, downtown businesses.
“I’m running because I want to continue my service to our community. I’ve been working for years to improve our neighborhoods and the business climate in St. Petersburg. Now, I want to do more to serve our city and make it an even better place to live, work, and play,” she said in a written statement Monday.
The district covers swaths of downtown and south St. Petersburg as well as Old Northeast. That makes it one of the most diverse — if not the most diverse — districts of the city's eight districts. Each of those in the running have their own pockets of support, and in order to break through in the initial August election and make it to what will likely be a November runoff, they will have to reach out to other communities. And Driscoll seems to get that.
“Over the next few months, I’ll be listening to voters about the issues and concerns they have and working with them to create solutions that are effective and efficient. I truly believe that a rising tide should lift all boats and that when there is success in our city we should all share in it,” her statement continued.
It appears as though she is ready for a fight, too. She's brought on Blue Ticket Consulting to handle her campaign. They're the ones who successfully helped an unknown candidate beat a popular, well-established incumbent in 2016, in Hillsborough County's State Attorney race, which pitted newcomer Democrat Andrew Warren against then-State Attorney Mark Ober, the Republican incumbent.
Other candidates on the roster are Justin Bean, Eritha “Akile” Caisson, Corey Givens Jr., Jim Jackson, Sharon Russ, James Scott, and Maria Scruggs.
It's also rumored that Augie Ribeiro, who self-funded his unsuccessful campaign in a crowded Dem state senate primary in 2016, is thinking of jumping in.
This article appears in Apr 27 – May 4, 2017.