Several St. Petersburg electoral candidates participated In a virtual town hall hosted by Estrategia Group yesterday. The aim was to bring the candidates’ political messages to the Latinx community.
“We seek to educate and mobilize the LatinX voice in St. Petersburg,” Estrategia Group wrote in its event announcement. “There are many Latinos, Hispanics and Spanish speakers who are registered and do not vote. Their lack of engagement continues to greatly influence the elections.”
The group went on to say that only 70 votes determined the last mayoral elections, alluding to primary elections between outgoing Mayor Rick Kriseman and Rick Baker.
Mayoral candidate Ken Welch and a representative of Robert Blackmon attended the forum, along with Lisset Hanewicz for District 4, the only Latin candidate on the ticket, according to Estrategia. Mhariel Summers for District 6 and Richie Floyd for City Council District 8 also participated in the meeting.
Angelina Salcedo of WTSP moderated the event.
You can watch the virtual town hall on Estrategia’s Facebook page (warning there’s a minor Zoom bomb in the video).
Send anonymous news tips to cltampabay_tips@protonmail.com. Support local journalism in these crazy days. Our small but mighty team works tirelessly to bring you news on how coronavirus is affecting Tampa and surrounding areas. Please consider making a one time or monthly donation to help support our staff. Every little bit helps.
Subscribe to our newsletter and follow @cl_tampabay on Twitter.
This article appears in Sep 16-22, 2021.