Credit: Courtesy, Gina Driscoll Campaign

By a margin of just two votes, St. Pete City Council District 6 candidate Gina Driscoll has secured second place in the eight-way primary for the seat. On Election Night, she was leading opponent Robert Blackmon to the second-place slot by just four votes — easily within a margin that mandates that the Pinellas Supervisor of Elections conduct a recount that includes the handful of provisional ballots not counted in Tuesday's tally.

On Friday, according to the county's elections website, her victory became official.

And all it took was two votes.

Driscoll will now face candidate Justin Bean in the runoff, which will be decided Nov. 7, along with the mayoral and two other council races.

Head of the Downtown Neighborhood Association, Driscoll enjoys support from outgoing District 6 Councilman Karl Nurse, who is leaving office due to term limits, as well as Council Chair Darden Rice.

“I’m so grateful to the voters who cast their ballot for me, and to all my supporters who helped us get this far,” Driscoll said in a media statement on Wednesday, before the SOE tallied the provisional ballots. “I’m looking forward to continuing the campaign and sharing my message with the entire city.”

The Bean vs. Driscoll showdown could in some ways mirror the contentious mayoral race between former Mayor Rick Baker and incumbent Mayor Rick Kriseman. While Driscoll enjoys support from Kriseman-allied figures like Nurse and Rice (read: Democrats), Bean has seen backing from Baker allies (read: not Democrats).

District 6 encompasses portions of south St. Pete and Old Northeast and represents an incredibly diverse population, from the city's most well-to-do areas to the parts of town where the city's most downtrodden reside.

The League of Women Voters of the St. Petersburg Area is hosting a forum for all City Council contenders Sept. 25 at St. Petersburg City Hall.

This article appears in Aug 31 – Sep 7, 2017.