Miami
Charlie Crist widens cash edge over Ken Welch in St. Petersburg mayoral race
New finance reports show Crist’s political committee continuing to raise money while Welch’s reported none in the latest period. Florida Politics also pointed to a recent poll showing Crist ahead before the Nov. 3 runoff.
Charlie Crist’s political committee added another round of fundraising and increased its financial advantage over incumbent Mayor Ken Welch in the St. Petersburg mayoral contest, according to a Florida Politics review of reports filed through Sept. 4.
The outlet reported that St. Pete Shines, the committee backing Crist, brought in $50,500 from Aug. 29 through Sept. 4, pushing its total raised to more than $2 million. It spent more than $61,000 during the same period, largely on mail, advertising and text messaging, and finished with nearly $289,000 on hand.
St. Petersburg Progress, Welch’s affiliated committee, reported no new fundraising during that stretch and has less than $9,000 available, according to Florida Politics. The publication said Crist’s committee has outraised Welch’s in every reporting period since both were active, and that this was the second time in a month Welch’s committee posted no fundraising at all.
Florida Politics also reported that Crist has benefited from more in-kind support. In the latest period, his committee listed more than $5,000 in in-kind contributions and nearly $34,000 since it was created. Welch’s committee, by comparison, has reported $1,000 in in-kind support, at the start of the year.
Campaign finance filings with the City Clerk were not yet due for the same period and are scheduled for Sept. 18. Still, the most recent campaign reports available, covering activity through Aug. 28, showed a similar gap, according to the outlet: Crist’s campaign had raised more than $169,000 and had more than $94,000 left, while Welch’s campaign had raised less than $94,000 overall and had less than $16,000 on hand.
Combining campaign and committee accounts, Crist has nearly $383,000 available, while Welch has less than $25,000, Florida Politics reported. The outlet said that kind of cash advantage points to a broader ability for Crist to communicate with voters across multiple platforms ahead of the Nov. 3 general election runoff.
Separately, a St. Pete Polls survey conducted Aug. 31 and Sept. 1 among 509 likely St. Pete voters found Crist at 52% support and Welch at 27%, as cited by Florida Politics. The publication added that two of the four candidates who did not advance to the runoff, Kevin Batdorf and Maria Scruggs, have already endorsed Crist.
Sources
About this piece. Written by El Notero with AI assistance, from reporting published by the outlet cited above. El Notero did no original reporting on this story.
