Janelle Irwin Taylor
It’s been more than a month since Maria Scruggs filed paperwork to challenge St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch next year, and over that time, she’s been talking to voters, honing her messaging and setting goals to take on what will no doubt be an underdog fight.
And it’s not her first rodeo. This will be Scruggs’ sixth time running for office, including a bid for Mayor in 2001, St. Pete City Council in 2005 and 2017 and Pinellas County Commission in 2004 and 2020.
She knows the road ahead is long, and she acknowledged a bid wasn’t always in the cards — she supported Welch in his 2021 race.
But after being approached by a few people about the prospect, Scruggs said she did a lot of praying, talking with her pastor, and ultimately set a deadline for God to send a message. He answered, she said, and on Aug. 1, she was at City Hall filing her paperwork — step one in what will be a tough race.
But it was the right thing to do, the 67-year-old community activist and former St. Petersburg NAACP President said.
She’s disappointed in Welch’s performance as Mayor, describing his tenure so far as a series of missteps she believes are a result of his inexperience as an administrator.
“I just did not know how that was going to translate into you now being the CEO of a mid-sized city,” she said.
Welch served on the Pinellas County Commission for 20 years before being elected Mayor. And while that gave him a solid resume in elected office, the County Commission is a legislative body, acting similarly to the St. Pete City Council. As a strong Mayor, Welch leads the city administratively, more like a chief executive.
Scruggs became disenchanted with his work in that role after seeing what she described as being “stuck in this clique” and sowing division rather than unity.
She points to Welch’s relationships with the City Council.
“It appeared that he had a cheering squad in Council members Deborah Figgs-Sanders and Copley Gerdes,” Scruggs said, adding that his relationship is fractured among others.
Scruggs declined to offer specifics, but said she has personal anecdotes that led her to that conclusion, and her takeaway is that the city is ready for a change.
“A professional politician is focused on the votes — I’ve got to remember whose going to donate to my campaign, I’ve got to focus on the next step, the next race. A public administrator sees themselves as an employee of the city,” Scruggs said.
And that’s where she believes she can make a difference.
“You’ve got to create a culture where people want to work,” said Scruggs, a nearly 19-year veteran of Orange County Corrections, where she serves as an administrative supervisor.
“I have people I coach and develop, I don’t rule them,” she said.
Scruggs believes Welch put too much focus on securing a stadium deal with the Tampa Bay Rays, and not enough time on core city services, such as storm response after last year’s back-to-back hurricanes, in which Hurricane Helene brought widespread flooding to the city and Hurricane Milton brought damaging winds that ripped the roof from Tropicana Field and toppled a construction crane onto the historic building housing the Tampa Bay Times.
She’s also frustrated with the city’s inability to address problems with its utilities exposed in the aftermath of last year’s hurricanes. Residents reported receiving inflated bills, in some cases six times higher than usual. Scruggs said the residents she has spoken to are afraid, and she thinks she’d do better for them.
“I get the right players to the table. We focus on, what is the problem? We come to a consensus, and you bring people who can help you resolve the problem. You don’t keep kicking the can down the road,” she said.
But while Scruggs is frustrated with Welch’s performance, she also recognizes that some “missteps” were at least partially out of his control. He can’t control the weather.
Still, she said, people are going to attach those things — the so-called “Welch Piles” of storm debris that took weeks to collect and the breakdown of the deal with the Tampa Bay Rays — to the incumbent Mayor.
“We have not been able to identify any solid base of support for the Mayor,” Scruggs said.
Her campaign hasn’t done any polling, and she’s not sure they will at all. They’re also not actively soliciting endorsements. The campaign has set fundraising goals, though she didn’t say what they’d be. Voters will get a first glimpse in October, when Scruggs has to file her first finance reports covering financial activity through September.
Instead, she’s running a grassroots, boots-on-the-ground campaign that includes talking with constituents where they are, about what they need.
“The sense we get from different cross sections of voters is, anything that appears connected to traditional politics, they’re over it. They want people who are going to get results,” she said.
Welch hasn’t officially filed for re-election yet, though he has said he will. He’s also reportedly been building his war chest. Scruggs is so far the only candidate to file to challenge him.
Former state Rep. Ben Diamond had been mulling a run, but bowed out last week. Rumors are swirling that City Council member Brandi Gabbard is considering a bid, but it’s unconfirmed.
While the Mayor’s race is non-partisan — political affiliation won’t appear on the ballot and candidates are barred from using their political affiliation in campaign literature or talking points — Welch is a Democrat. Scruggs is not affiliated with a party.
Given that, it’s possible the local GOP may put up a challenge to Welch, also.
As the incumbent, Welch will have the early advantage. Still, he has a race ahead, and Scruggs isn’t backing down.
“I’ve never been one that was fearful or afraid if I felt it was the right thing to do,” she said, and then used the Mayor’s own slogan against him.
“I’m going to be retiring in the city of St. Petersburg in the next year. I want it to be the best city for everyone. I want it to really be in a place that the tag line, ‘We Are St. Pete,’ that everybody really embraces that to mean something.”
