ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Come November 2, voters in St. Petersburg will decide between Robert Blackmon and Ken Welch on who will become the city's next mayor.
The two candidates were the top two in a loaded primary with eight names on the ballot, including a blank space to write in the ninth candidate. Neither Blackmon nor Welch earned more than 50-percent of the vote so the two will face off in the general election.
With a total of 53,969 votes, Blackmon scored 15,424 or about 28-percent of the votes, and Welch garnered 21,103 votes or about 39-percent.
Who is Robert Blackmon?
Currently a St. Pete city council member, Blackmon is passionate about issues surrounding the environment, public safety, increasing vaccination rates and rebuilding the city's after COVID-19.
The real estate investor served the community as a city councilor for one year before making beginning his campaign for mayor. He's running under the slogan "Giving the Sunshine City 'A Choice and a Voice' in local government."
Blackmon was born and raised in St. Petersburg, graduating from St. Pete High School and continued his education at Florida state University where he earned a degree.
The mayoral candidate works in real estate with a focus on renovating, restoring, and managing multi-family apartments and condos.
He got his start in politics as a Council of Neighborhood Associations representative and has been honored by Preserve the ‘Burg for his work to preserve historic housing buildings throughout the city.
As far as what Blackmon hopes to accomplish in St. Pete communities, his campaign site lists an array of ways he's involved in the city. He secured resources for St. Pete firefighters, proposed a comprehensive gun buyback program to get guns off the streets, pushed for live streaming city government meetings and supports small businesses.
In addition, the mayoral candidate wants to create plans to bring city jobs to Midtown and is invested in youth and science education.
Blackmon will face off against Welch on the general election ballot on Nov. 2.
To read more about the mayoral candidate, visit his site.