This year, it looks like St. Pete’s mayoral candidates want the city stormproof—so, they’re flooding the ballot for the Primary election, which ends Aug. 18 ahead of a potential Nov. 3 runoff.
Five names have filed to unseat Mayor Ken Welch, who’s running for reelection.
Maria Scruggs was the first to file back in August 2025, and her PAC, The Shelynn PAC, has $7,500 in contributions filed to date.
Paul Congemi joined early this year. He also ran previously five times but made national headlines in 2017 while debating fellow candidate Jesse Nevel—a white activist and member of the Uhuru Solidarity Movement—and telling supporters to “go back to Africa.”
The St. Pete Shines PAC has also filed and raised more than $725,000 for former Gov. Charlie Crist, though the 69-year-old former Republican has not filed yet.
Click through the bolded names to hear what Welch and his opponents say they have to offer to voters selecting St. Petersburg’s next mayor.
Mayor Ken Welch
Ken Welch is St. Pete’s first African American mayor and was the first Pinellas County commissioner to represent District 7 in the city. The 61-year-old is running for re-election, too.
Welch’s PAC, the St. Pete Pelican PAC, will generate its last contribution report this quarter. The PAC had a rough start after former committee treasurer Yolanda Brown embezzled $207,500 from it last fall.
For his campaign, Welch told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay he plans to kickstart major investments in storm resilience. He has faced five hurricanes in his first four years, and he said hurricanes Helene and Milton brought unprecedented damages to the city in 2024.
Councilwoman Brandi Gabbard
The race to unseat St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch includes a councilmember.
District 2 Councilwoman Brandi Gabbard told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay she feels St. Petersburg is “at a critical crossroads right now.” She wants to “hit the round running on day one of being elected.”
“We need proactive decision-making leadership that is going to help to get our city back on track,” Gabbard said. “And I believe that is the kind of leadership I have shown on city council.”
Fmr. St. Petersburg Fire Chief Jim Large
Retired St. Petersburg fire rescue chief Jim Large said he has always had a desire to lead. So it makes sense to see him enter the race to be St. Petersburg’s next mayor.
“I think at some point I figured I would move to the next level of public service, whatever that would be, when I finished my career with the fire department,” Large told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay.
Kevin Batdorf
Kevin Batdorf, real estate broker and former president of the Shore Acres Civic Association, has seen his neighborhood—which is the lowest-lying in St. Pete—struck with storm surge and flooding by the 2024 hurricanes.
And while Mayor Welch claims the city took long to recover due to unprecedented damage, Batdorf said that statement is “baloney.”
“That’s where we needed true leadership, and we didn’t have it,” Batdorf told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay.
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This article appears in Mar. 26 – Apr. 1.