Overview and Live Results: St. Petersburg Mayoral Election
By 270toWin Staff
August 24, 2021
St. Petersburg, Florida is the 85th largest city in the United States,1 1City rankings are based on July 1, 2020 Census Bureau population estimates. They are for the city itself, not the associated metropolitan area. with a population of just under 260,000. Tuesday's all-party mayoral primary will select the two candidates that will meet in the November 2 general election, unless one candidate receives a majority of the vote. In that case, that person is elected mayor.
The current mayor is Democrat Rick Kriseman, who is completing his second four year term. He is unable to run due to term limits. There are eight candidates on the ballot. While officially nonpartisan (NPA label in the results table below), five of the candidates are Democrats, two Republican and one is an independent.
St. Pete Polls has conducted a number of polls on the race for FloridaPolitics.com; the most recent of which was released on August 21. Two months ago, four candidates seemed viable. However, subsequent surveys have seen support gravitate toward two of them.
Former Pinellas County Commissioner Ken Welch (D) led the most recent poll with 37%, while City Council member Robert Blackmon (R) had 27%. Democratic City Council member Darden Rice was third with 17%. With Welch recently consolidating Democratic support, Rice has an uphill climb to finish second. No other candidate saw double-digits. The poll included 542 likely voters, with a 4.2% margin of error.
The poll also surveyed the general election, where Welch had a 53% to 29% edge on Blackmon. If he were to win, Welch would be the first Black mayor in the city's history.
Polls close at 7:00 PM Eastern Time.
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