Results are in for the 2021 St. Petersburg primary election. While voter turnout failed to reach the numbers set in the last mayoral race four years ago, this cycle was only four percentage points lower amid a resurgent pandemic.
Ken Welch and Robert Blackmon advanced from a crowded field of mayoral candidates on Tuesday and will now face off in the Nov. 3 general election. Welch was the overall winner with 21,812 votes or 39.41%. Blackmon finished second with 15,638 votes or 28.25%. In total, 55,346 votes were cast to decide who would fill Rick Kriseman’s seat for the first time in eight years.
In 2017, Kriseman and former Mayor Rick Baker both received over 27,000 votes, or 48.36% and 48.23%, respectively. The 2017 ballot featured six candidates in what was largely a two-man race, compared with nine total candidates this year. In addition to Blackmon and Welch, Pete Boland, Wengay Newton, and Darden Rice all finished with more than 6% of the vote Tuesday night.
Primary voting for city council is limited to a candidate’s district, and the top two vote-getters will move on to the general election in which the entire city can cast a vote. Either Copley Gerdes or Bobbie Shay Lee will assume Blackmon’s vacated District 1 seat after receiving 33.82% and 33.77% of the vote.
