# 2013 St. Petersburg, Florida, mayoral election

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vte :
St. Petersburg, Florida, held an election for mayor on August 27 and November 5, 2013. A non-partisan primary election was held on August 27, 2013. No candidate won a majority of the vote, so the top two finishers, incumbent Mayor Bill Foster and former State Representative Rick Kriseman, advanced to a runoff.
After a campaign described as "nasty", "partisan", "contentious" and "the costliest in [St. Petersburg] history", Foster lost to Kriseman by 56% to 44%, becoming the first incumbent mayor of St. Petersburg to lose a race for re-election in more than 26 years.
Adam C. Smith of the Tampa Bay Times wrote that although 70% of voters approved of where the city was heading and Foster was "a good man who presided over no corruption scandal, no violent racial unrest", he only proved to be "adequate" at the job. He also "underestimat[ed] voters' intelligence, talking about a secret plan to keep the Tampa Bay Rays in St. Petersburg", had an "ever-shifting" position on the St. Petersburg Pier and alienated African-American voters in Midtown. Kriseman, Smith wrote, capitalized on this to win "considerable" African-American support and ran as a "safe, credible alternative for those unimpressed with the incumbent", promising to govern like popular former Mayor Rick Baker.

## Primary election
### Candidates

* Anthony Cates III
* Paul Congemi, candidate for mayor in 2009
* Kathleen Ford, former city council member (Democrat)
* Bill Foster, incumbent mayor (Republican)
* Rick Kriseman, former state representative (Democrat)

### Polling

| Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size | Margin of error | Bill Foster (R) | Rick Kriseman (D) | Undecided |
| St. Pete Polls | February 18, 2013 | 690 | ± 3.4% | 38% | 34% | 28% |

### Results

St. Petersburg Mayoral primary election, 2013 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | nonpartisan candidate | Bill Foster | 20,336 | 40.63 |
| | nonpartisan candidate | Rick Kriseman | 19,470 | 38.9 |
| | nonpartisan candidate | Kathleen Ford | 9,648 | 19.27 |
| | nonpartisan candidate | Anthony Cates III | 376 | 0.75 |
| | nonpartisan candidate | Paul Congemi | 225 | 0.45 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 50,055 | 100.00 |

### Endorsements

Elected Officials
* Rick Scott, Governor of Florida
Organizations
* Pinellas Realtor Organization
* Tampa Tribune
Elected Officials
* Charlie Crist, former Republican Governor of Florida and Independent Candidate for Senate in 2010
* Leslie Curran, St. Petersburg city council member
* Paula Dockery, former Republican state senator
* Dwight Dudley, state representative
* Pat Gerard, Mayor of Largo
* Charlie Gerdes, St. Petersburg city council member
* Charlie Justice, Pinellas County Commissioner
* Steve Kornell, St. Petersburg city council member
* Susan Latvala, Pinellas County Commissioner
* Janet C. Long, Pinellas County Commissioner
* Bill Nelson, US Senator
* Karl Nurse, St. Petersburg city council member
* Darryl Rouson, state representative
* Alex Sink, former Chief Financial Officer and nominee for Governor in 2010
Organizations
* Tampa Bay Times

## Runoff election
### Polling

| Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size | Margin of error | Bill Foster (R) | Rick Kriseman (D) | Undecided |
| St. Pete Polls | October 24, 2013 | 1,397 | ± 2.6% | 42.6% | 48.3% | 9% |
| Braun Research | October 17–21, 2013 | 809 | ± 3.4% | 34% | 40% | 19% |
| Braun Research | September 14–16, 2013 | 410 | ± 4.8% | 39% | 40% | 16% |

### Results

St. Petersburg Mayoral runoff election, 2013 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | nonpartisan candidate | Rick Kriseman | 29,687 | 55.91 |
| | nonpartisan candidate | Bill Foster | 23,412 | 44.09 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 6,275 | 11.82% |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 53,099 | |
| | Democratic gain from Republican | Democratic gain from Republican | Swing | |