Municipal elections in St. Petersburg, Florida (2015)
2016 →
← 2014
|
 |
2015 Elections By Date Recent News |
Arlington • Aurora • Boise Boston • Buffalo Charlotte • Chicago Cleveland • Colorado Springs • Columbus • Dallas • Denver Durham • El Paso Ferguson • Fort Wayne Fort Worth • Garland • Greensboro Henderson • Hialeah Houston • Indianapolis Irving • Jacksonville Kansas City • Laredo • Las Vegas • Lincoln • Los Angeles • Long Beach • Louisville • Madison Memphis • Miami Milwaukee • Nashville North Las Vegas Oklahoma City • Orlando Philadelphia • Phoenix Pittsburgh • Plano • Raleigh Riverside • Sacramento San Antonio San Francisco San Jose • Seattle St. Louis • St. Paul St. Petersburg • Tampa Toledo • Tucson Washington, D.C. Wichita |
| Note: Cities listed in this box are those among the 100 largest in the United States that held elections in 2015. |
The city of St. Petersburg, Florida, held elections for city council on November 3, 2015. A primary election took place on August 25, 2015. The filing deadline for candidates who wished to run in this election was June 22, 2015. Four of the eight city council seats were up for election.[1]
The biggest issue facing the St. Petersburg City Council heading into the election was a proposal to allow the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team to search for a new stadium in the region. The council was divided 4-4 in a May 2015 advisory vote on a proposal to allow the Rays to start a stadium search in exchange for higher city profits from redeveloping the current stadium property.
The races for seats in District 5 and District 7 were targeted by supporters and opponents of the proposal looking to shift the board out of a stalemate. Victories for District 5 incumbent Steve Kornell and District 7 candidate Will Newton were the goals of proposal opponents. Supporters of the proposal were campaigning for District 5 challenger Philip Garrett and District 7 candidate Lisa Wheeler-Brown. The races for District 1 and District 3 were less critical to the stadium issue as neither seat changed from a councilmember with one stance to a candidate with the opposite stance on the Rays negotiations. The election yielded wins for District 1 incumbent Charlie Gerdes, District 3 candidate Ed Montanari, Kornell and Wheeler-Brown.[2][3] Learn more about the stadium issue here.
City council
Candidate list
District 1
November 3 General election candidates:
- Monica Mary Abbott
- Charlie Gerdes
- Incumbent Gerdes was elected in 2011.
District 3
Note: Incumbent Bill Dudley did not run for re-election.
November 3 General election candidates:
District 5
November 3 General election candidates:
- Philip Garrett
- Steve Kornell - Incumbent Kornell was elected in 2009.
District 7
Note: Incumbent Wengay M. "Newt" Newton Sr. did not run for re-election.
August 25 Primary election candidates:
November 3 General election candidates:
Election results
General election
| St. Petersburg City Council District 1, General election, 2015 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Charlie Gerdes Incumbent |
64.2% | 16,572 |
| Monica Mary Abbott | 35.8% | 9,231 |
| Write-in votes | 0% | 0 |
| Total Votes | 25,803 | |
| Source: Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections, "MUNICIPAL GENERAL NOVEMBER 3, 2015"", accessed November 3, 2015 | ||
| St. Petersburg City Council District 5, General election, 2015 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Steve Kornell Incumbent |
55.8% | 14,347 |
| Philip Garrett | 44.2% | 11,376 |
| Write-in votes | 0% | 0 |
| Total Votes | 25,723 | |
| Source: Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections, "MUNICIPAL GENERAL NOVEMBER 3, 2015", accessed November 3, 2015 | ||
| St. Petersburg City Council District 7, General election, 2015 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Lisa Wheeler-Bowman |
57.7% | 15,180 |
| Winthrop “Will” Newton | 42.3% | 11,115 |
| Write-in votes | 0% | 0 |
| Total Votes | 26,295 | |
| Source: Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections, "MUNICIPAL GENERAL NOVEMBER 3, 2015", accessed November 3, 2015 | ||
Primary election
| St. Petersburg City Council District 7 Primary Election, 2015 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Lisa Wheeler-Bowman |
37.3% | 1,027 | |
| Winthrop “Will” Newton |
34.5% | 948 | |
| Sheila Scott Griffin | 17.7% | 487 | |
| Aaron Sharpe | 6.8% | 186 | |
| Elvert Lewis Stephens | 3.7% | 102 | |
| Total Votes | 2,750 | ||
| Source: Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections, "Official primary election results," accessed August 25, 2015 | |||
Council districts
Below is a map of St. Petersburg's council districts in 2015. There were eight districts on the council. Each district elected its own representative on the council. Click the map to return to the candidate list.
Issues
Tampa Bay Rays stadium impasse
Background
The St. Petersburg City Council faced difficult decisions regarding the future of the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team in the city following the 2015 election. Tropicana Field, which was owned and operated by the city, opened in 1990 to attract professional baseball to St. Petersburg. The Rays began playing home games in the stadium during the 1998 Major League Baseball (MLB) season. The team's lease with the city to play in Tropicana Field ran through 2027 and required payments to the city if the team moves into a new stadium outside of the Tropicana Field property.[4] The Tampa Bay Rays sought multiple avenues to keep the team in St. Petersburg including a halted effort to replace Al Lang Field on the city's waterfront in 2008.[5] Owner Stuart Sternberg told reporters in February 2015 that the team would start searching for a new stadium site by 2022 with or without city approval to ensure enough time for construction. The team wanted a new stadium to generate higher attendance and new revenue for the club.[6]
Council clashes with Rays
Sternberg's February 2015 statement stemmed from contentious relations between the team and city officials. The Rays requested permission from the city to seek a new stadium site in 2008 and made little headway until a compromise was proposed by Mayor Rick Kriseman in December 2014. The proposal would have given the Rays a three-year window to search for stadium sites in Pinellas and Hillsborough Counties, which are considered part of the same metropolitan area. In exchange, the proposal would have altered development rights on the Tropicana Field property to allow the city to earn a majority of profits from redevelopment prior to the 2027 lease end date. Team representatives and city councilors sparred over these rights and the council voted 5-3 against the proposal on December 18, 2014.[7] An advisory vote of the council in May 2015 was deadlocked at 4-4 despite alterations to the deal that would have dropped the team's objections to a higher share of profits for the city if the stadium property is redeveloped.[8]
Here is the breakdown of the December 2014 and April 2015 votes:[7]
| Council member | December 2014 vote | April 2015 vote |
|---|---|---|
| Charlie Gerdes |  |
|
| Karl Nurse | |
|
| Darden Rice | |
|
| Bill Dudley |  |
|
| Amy Foster | |
|
| Steve Kornell | |
|
| Jim Kennedy | |
|
| Wengay Newton | |
|
Competition for county money
The city council's negotiations with the Tampa Bay Rays were complicated by a proposed redevelopment of the city's closed 240-acre Toytown landfill. In October 2015, a group called SportsPark Partners proposed a $662 million development project at Toytown that would include a spring training facility for the Atlanta Braves baseball team, sports medicine clinics and facilities for youth sports. The county delayed a vote on the SportsPark proposal until St. Petersburg advanced negotiations with the Rays.[9]
SportsPark's proposal coincided with Pinellas County retiring its portion of the debt on Tropicana Field on September 30, 2015. County commissioner Ken Welch estimated that the county could borrow approximately $350 million to $400 million to invest in a new facility. Welch noted during an interview with Fox 13 that public funds for the SportsPark proposal and a new stadium for the Rays were unlikely to materialize, creating competition between the projects to gain approval and access county funds.[10]
Key council seats for stadium vote
The District 5 and District 7 council races were key elections for future votes on the Rays stadium situation.[2] District 5 incumbent Steve Kornell faced challenger Philip Garrett in the November general election. Kornell opposed Kriseman's proposals during the December 2014 and May 2015 votes. In endorsing Garrett, the Tampa Bay Times noted that the challenger supported the Kriseman proposal.[3]
Term-limited District 7 incumbent Wengay Newton was a vocal opponent of Kriseman's proposals in December 2014 and May 2015.[11] Newton's brother Will was running against Lisa Wheeler-Brown. Will Newton opposed the Kriseman proposal on the grounds that the team would not pay enough money to the city for flexibility on the lease. Wheeler-Brown supported a proposal similar to Kriseman's as a means of moving beyond the stadium issue.
In District 1, incumbent Charlie Gerdes supported the mayor's proposal while challenger Monica Mary Abbott made no public statements on the issue. Newcomer Ed Montanari was unopposed to replace Bill Dudley in District 3 with challenger and outgoing councilmember sharing their opposition for the Rays proposal.[3]
Supporters of the proposal to allow the Rays to search for a new stadium site outside of the Tropicana Field property needed Garrett or Wheeler-Brown to win in order to secure five votes for approval. Opponents of the proposal needed Will Newton to win the District 7 seat and Kornell to keep his seat to maintain a council stalemate.[3]
Campaign finance
Campaign finance reports filed in early October 2015 showed $185,226.56 in contributions and $149,171.92 in expenditures for general election candidates in contested races. The District 7 race led the pack in fundraising with Wheeler-Brown and Newton reporting $112,629.56 in contributions and $83,737.93 in expenditures. Kornell led Garrett in both fundraising categories, while Abbott surpassed Gerdes in contributions and expenditures.[12]
Census information
The table below shows demographic information about St. Petersburg, Florida.
| Demographic data for St. Petersburg, Florida (2015) | ||
|---|---|---|
| St. Petersburg | Florida | |
| Total population: | 250,713 | 20,244,914 |
| Land area (square miles): | 62 | 53,625 |
| Race and ethnicity[13] | ||
| White: | 69% | 76% |
| Black/African American: | 23.8% | 16.1% |
| Asian: | 3.1% | 2.6% |
| Native American: | 0.3% | 0.3% |
| Pacific Islander: | 0.1% | 0.1% |
| Two or more: | 2.8% | 2.4% |
| Hispanic/Latino: | 7.1% | 23.7% |
| Education | ||
| High school graduation rate: | 89.5% | 86.9% |
| College graduation rate: | 30.9% | 27.3% |
| Income | ||
| Median household income: | $45,748 | $47,507 |
| Persons below poverty level: | 17.2% | 19.8% |
| Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015) | ||
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms St. Petersburg Florida Election. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
- St. Petersburg City Elections - 2015 Elections
- St. Petersburg City Elections - 2015 Candidate List
- Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections - Official primary election results
Footnotes
- ↑ Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections, "2015 Election Results," accessed September 16, 2021
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Tampa Bay Times, "Batter up for St. Pete City Council on Tampa Bay Rays stalemate," October 8, 2015
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Tampa Bay Times, "Times recommends: Gerdes, Garrett, Wheeler-Brown for St. Petersburg City Council," September 29, 2015
- ↑ The St. Petersburg Tribune, "Officials: Rays balk at paying to break lease," September 6, 2013
- ↑ Tampa Bay Times, "Tampa Bay Rays say waterfront stadium is off table, downtown site questionable," May 22, 2009
- ↑ MLB.com, "Rays owner intends to explore new stadium sites," February 22, 2015
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Tampa Bay Times, "St. Petersburg City Council rejects Rays stadium search deal," December 18, 2014
- ↑ Tampa Bay Times, "Another defeat for Rays at St. Pete City Council," May 28, 2015
- ↑ ABC Action News, "Pinellas County Commissioners wants St. Pete to step up to plate in proposed Toytown project," October 7, 2015
- ↑ Fox 13, "Stadium money up for grabs in Pinellas County," October 1, 2015
- ↑ WTSP, "Vote could decide fate of Rays in Tampa Bay," August 13, 2015
- ↑ City of St. Petersburg, "2015 Campaign Treasurer's Reports," accessed October 19, 2015
- ↑ Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.
 |
State of Florida Tallahassee (capital) |
|---|---|
| Elections |
What's on my ballot? | Elections in 2025 | How to vote | How to run for office | Ballot measures |
| Government |
Who represents me? | U.S. President | U.S. Congress | Federal courts | State executives | State legislature | State and local courts | Counties | Cities | School districts | Public policy |
