The St. Petersburg mayoral primary is set for Tuesday.

Six candidates, including the incumbent, are vying to serve the next four years as St. Petersburg mayor.

Current mayor Rick Kriseman is bidding for a second term, while former mayor Rick Baker is trying to reclaim his office.

They are joined on the ballot by Jesse Nevel, Anthony Cates, Paul Congemi and Theresa Lassiter. Here is a quick look at each candidate.

Nevel's platform is "unity through reparations."

"Reparations means righting the wrongs of the past and also taking responsibility to rectify the conditions that we see today,” Nevel said. “And it means funding genuine economic development for the black community that is in the interest of and controlled by the black working class of this city."

Nevel said reparations would include things like turning the land under Tropicana Field back to the black community so it can be used to rebuild economic development and affordable housing.

He said development of the South side is something everyone, regardless of their skin color, will benefit from.

Cates is focusing on creating a thriving business community and cutting down on crime.

To do the latter, he said it's important to properly educate youth.

"We have to have more after school projects, all the way up to the national level,” Cates said. “Especially with Trump cutting the budget for after school programs, that is going to hit us hard."

Cates managed a Walmart store that closed a few months ago in Midtown. He said the closing inspired him to run on a campaign of economic stability.


Development in Midtown, where a Walmart closed earlier this year, is one of the election's hot topics.

Lassiter, better known as "Momma Tee," has been a fixture for years on the City Council. Now she wants to take it to the next level.

"I wanna bring people together," she said. "That's why I say I want to be called the 'woman in the middle.' Because I feel like I've got the community on this side, I've got government on this side, and I'm trying to say, 'Come on, come on. We're better together.'"

A native of St. Petersburg, the road to her candidacy has been a rough one. She has battled drug addiction, serious illness and a failed marriage. She said that life experience is key to making for a good mayor.

"How can you make decisions about people if you've never walked in their shoes?" she said. "How can you say what needs to go on in my community, if you don't know what it is to be Theresa Lassiter and live off of $9,821?"

For Congemi, this is his third attempt at the mayor's office. In July, he said, "I know I'm not going to win."

"I don't get upset if I lose," Congemi said. "The most important thing is running and getting my message out."

That messages involves confronting what he calls "moral decay."

"Homosexuals, they call it equality, they call it love," Congemi said. "It's not equality. It's immorality."

He said he would also ask the St. Petersburg NAACP branch to disband.


Current Mayor Rick Kriseman and former mayor Rick Baker have spent months sparring about sewage problems in the city.

For the front-runners Kriseman and Baker, it's been about sewage issues and Midtown development, among other issues.

The candidates debated July 25 on Bay News 9, with the sewage controversy dominating much of the hour.

"I believe if the maintenance program continued after I left office and if we would have kept Alfred Whitted open today then I don't believe we would have had the amount of significant overflows that we have had," former mayor Baker said.

Mayor Kriseman, a Democrat, admitted his office could have handled the situation differently.

"Clearly I’m sitting in the seat and while I rely on my people it still rests with me," Kriseman said, adding "Mr. Baker said that he had no spills during his time as mayor and that’s just simply not true."

A Republican, Baker countered by saying he would reopen the closed Albert Whitted sewage plant, which was shut down in August 2015. The state recently ordered the city to follow a $300-plus million plan to fix the sewage crisis.

Baker blames Kriseman for dropping the ball in Midtown where two grocery stores have closed in Tangerine Plaza.

Kriseman says his administration plans to get it right when a retail store returns to the plaza.