Even the most tuned-in observer of local politics might have had trouble recognizing Torry Nelson during Tuesday’s televised St. Petersburg mayoral debate. 

That’s because the 43-year-old St. Pete native qualified just hours before last Friday’s 5 p.m. deadline to get into the race, and thus hadn’t done any local media prior to one of the biggest events of the 2021 St. Petersburg election cycle.

“It’s always been my goal ever since my mid-20’s,” Nelson told Spectrum Bay News 9 Wednesday morning, referring to running for political office. “But I wasn’t eligible to run. As a convicted felon, I had to get my restoration of rights back, and I most recently got them (back). So it’s always been a goal of mine. So I figured, hey, it was now or never.”

If that sounds audacious, Nelson is okay with that. A football player for Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, he literally snuck into a Pittsburgh Steeler training camp session in Latrobe, Pennsylvania in 2018 and attempted to cover star wide receiver Antonio Brown.

Nelson says that event took place at a time in his life when he had lost control of a homeless shelter in the city that he had ran for ten years with no government funding and was “under constant government scrutiny.” He says he started working out intensively and made it his goal to get on that training camp field.

“It went viral,” he says about the public reaction. “Everybody thought it was a big joke, (but) it was an inspiration there for a lot of people.”

On policy issues, Nelson is most passionate about finding ways to combat climate change. Although not under the city’s purview, he says he’d like to bring emission tests back for autos in Florida (the state eliminated those tests in 2000), deregulate Duke Energy, the city’s energy provider and provide solar panels for every home.

Nelson says he’s done a lot of things in his adult life. He's been “an entrepreneur, a real estate investor. A lot of civil service. I was a Little League football coach for a while, and basically a community activist.” 

And about his criminal record, which includes drug and robbery charges?

“I made a couple of mistakes, and I’ve grown and I’ve wisened up from that. If I could take it back, I wouldn’t change.”

And his pitch to the voters in St. Petersburg?

“We need someone with a heart. It’s time for something fresh — someone with a wholesome heart. And I’m as real as they come.”

Nelson will be among the candidates participating in the next major campaign forum hosted b y the Suncoast Tiger Bay Club next Monday evening.