By Dinorah Prevost
District 4 candidate and USF St. Petersburg student Jerick Johnston fell short in his race against incumbent Darden Rice Tuesday.
The incumbent Rice won almost two-thirds of votes cast, 72.64 percent or 41,901 votes, according to the latest results. Johnston, 21, won 27.36 percent of votes or 15,783 votes.
This was Johnston’s first time running for office. From early on, his chances of winning were slim because Rice is an experienced, popular progressive on City Council.
A District 4 native, he ran on a platform of bringing a new, younger voice to City Hall, helping small businesses grow and solving the city’s sewage problems in an environmentally friendly way. In an editorial, last month, the Tampa Bay Times criticized Johnston’s “vague understanding of other city issues” and downplayed the threat he posed to Rice.
Johnston, a senior business management major, is the third student to run for City Council during this election cycle. Graduate student James Scott and alum Corey Givens Jr. ran for District 6 but both dropped out after losing in the Aug. 29 primary.
Above photo courtesy of Jerick Johnston
