Former St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker said Tuesday he is not going to run for Congress this year, the Tampa Bay Times reports.
The news comes after months and months of apparent indecision, as well as polling that helped fuel speculation that he was quite interested in running for Florida's 13th Congressional District seat — the one U.S. Rep. David Jolly is leaving in the hope of winning Marco Rubio's Senate seat.
A popular former mayor, the thinking was that Baker would be the only Republican who could beat the Democratic nominee, which will probably be former governor Charlie Crist (but might be former Pentagon official Eric Lynn; we don't know, man).
The district was until recently one of the only swing districts left in the country, but that changed when the Florida Supreme Court ruled that it was one of several that were obviously manipulated to favor a party or candidate, which voters outlawed by way of a constitutional amendment in 2010.
Despite the new rules, lawmakers lopped predominantly African-American (and Democrat-leaning) south St. Petersburg off the southern end of D-13 and stuck it into Democratic Congresswoman Kathy Castor's already-electric-blue district. The district's boundaries shifted northward into not-exactly-taupe northern Pinellas County, a Republican stronghold.
Last year, the court demanded that lawmakers reverse that, meaning any Congressional election there would be a cakewalk for Democrats, for the most part.
Except for Baker. He was thought of as a formidable challenge to Crist because of his popularity in south St. Pete as mayor, an area upon which he focused great attention during his tenure.
Republicans fought hard to recruit him as a candidate. Even U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan tried to Paul-suade him to run.
No dice.
"It's a tremendous honor to be considered and I have great respect for Congress, but I've concluded that I'm a better fit for an executive leadership position than a position in Congress," said Baker, 59.
That leaves Crist and Lynn in a Democratic primary that will probably heat up here in a minute.
There's also a Republican running named Mark Bircher. A pilot and retired U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Brigadier General, he actually challenged Jolly in the 2013 special election primary that ultimately led to Jolly succeeding the late Congressman Bill Young.
But he's not exactly well-known, and would have a tough time appealing to the district's moderate and progressive (obviously) voters.
Crist and Lynn were probably both relieved to hear Baker's news, so they sent out nice notes wishing him well.
"Rick Baker is a good man, a good friend, and an influential part of our community here in St. Pete. I wish him nothing but continued success," Crist said in a written statement.
Oh, wait, Lynn actually had strong words for the GOP.
“Rick Baker clearly felt that Pinellas families are in no mood to elect another obstructionist Republican to Congress. That’s why the [Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee] made Florida’s 13th District red-to-blue and committed to investing real resources in this race," he said in a statement his campaign issued. "Voters across our district tell me they want a strong progressive who will stand up for Pinellas County values, champion women’s rights and support President Obama’s legacy. I am leading in grassroots support, endorsements and primary cash in my run for the Democratic nomination because I am that candidate.”
With expansive name recognition and likability, Crist is an obvious frontrunner in that primary, but Lynn has been at this for about a year now and has shown some strong fundraising prowess. He also seems to have strong appeal among area progressives (though, notably, the bulk of St. Pete's mostly progressive City Council has come out in support of Crist).
As for Baker, it's unclear what's next for him. As he noted, he's really more of an executive type, which makes it seem clear that challenging current mayor Rick Kriseman in 2017 would appeal to him.
Guess we'll find out in a few months.
This article appears in Apr 7-13, 2016.