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Darden Rice
Darden Rice was a member of the St. Petersburg City Council in Florida, representing District 4. She assumed office in 2014. She left office on January 6, 2022.
Rice ran for election for Mayor of St. Petersburg in Florida. She lost in the primary on August 24, 2021.
Rice completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Darden Rice's professional experience includes serving on the St. Petersburg City Council. She was first elected to the council in 2013 and was re-elected in 2017. She also worked for the Sierra Club, as the Florida director for the Gulf Restoration Network (now Healthy Gulf), and as the health care policy director for Progress Florida. Rice has been affiliated with Forward Pinellas, Tampa Bay Water, the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority, and the League of Women Voters for the St. Petersburg Area.[1]
Elections
2021
See also: Mayoral election in St. Petersburg, Florida (2021)
General election
General election for Mayor of St. Petersburg
Kenneth Welch defeated Robert G. Blackmon in the general election for Mayor of St. Petersburg on November 2, 2021.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Kenneth Welch (Nonpartisan) | 60.5 | 40,579 |
 | Robert G. Blackmon (Nonpartisan) | 39.5 | 26,509 | |
| Total votes: 67,088 | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for Mayor of St. Petersburg
The following candidates ran in the primary for Mayor of St. Petersburg on August 24, 2021.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Kenneth Welch (Nonpartisan) | 39.4 | 21,827 |
| ✔ | | Robert G. Blackmon (Nonpartisan) | 28.3 | 15,659 |
 | Darden Rice (Nonpartisan) | 16.6 | 9,189 | |
 | Wengay Newton (Nonpartisan) | 7.5 | 4,128 | |
 | Peter Boland (Nonpartisan) | 6.2 | 3,424 | |
| Michael Ingram (Nonpartisan) | 0.8 | 460 | ||
| Marcile Powers (Nonpartisan) | 0.7 | 404 | ||
| Torry Nelson (Nonpartisan) | 0.4 | 212 | ||
| Michael Levinson (Nonpartisan) (Write-in) | 0.0 | 9 | ||
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.2 | 88 | ||
| Total votes: 55,400 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Endorsements
To view Rice's endorsements in the 2021 election, please click here.
2017
The city of St. Petersburg, Florida, held elections for mayor and city council on November 7, 2017. A primary took place on August 29, 2017. The filing deadline for candidates who wished to run in this election was June 23, 2017. Four of eight council seats were up for election.
Incumbent Darden Rice defeated Jerick Johnston in the general election for District 4 on the St. Petersburg City Council.[2]
| St. Petersburg City Council, District 4 General Election, 2017 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Darden Rice Incumbent |
72.58% | 41,426 |
| Jerick Johnston | 27.42% | 15,648 |
| Total Votes | 57,074 | |
| Source: Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections, "Unofficial Results," accessed November 7, 2017 | ||
Campaign themes
2021
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Darden Rice completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Rice's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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Before I was elected to City Council, I was the first openly LGBTQ person to run for office in Pinellas County in 2005. I also served as the President of the League of Women Voters of the St. Petersburg Area, worked for Sierra Club, and was the Health Care Policy Director for Progress Florida.
In my free time, I enjoy gardening, cheering on the Tampa Bay Rowdies, and taking advantage of all the amazing things St. Pete has to offer.- I’m running for Mayor of St. Petersburg because we need bold, new ideas to address our most pressing needs.
- I have been serving on St. Petersburg City Council for the past seven years, and will be ready to hit the ground running on day one of my term.
- As Mayor, I will make sure that St. Petersburg is a city that truly works for everyone.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
See also
2021 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on August 4, 2021
- ↑ Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections, "Unofficial Results," accessed November 7, 2017
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