Pictured above: Ken Welch (left) and Robert Blackmon (right) share views on the LGBTQ+ community and answer questions about their past at the St. Petersburg Mayoral Debate on Monday. The debate was hosted by the Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce in partnership with WFLA.
Courtesy of Isaiah Sterling
By Isaiah Sterling
Editor’s Note: This story contains the use of profanity from a social media reference.
Mayoral candidates Ken Welch and Robert Blackmon went head-to-head in a heated debate about LGBTQ+ issues and social media slurs at the St. Petersburg Mayoral Debate in the USC Ballroom on Monday.
The debate was moderated by WFLA political news reporter Evan Donovan, who asked both candidates to address “several past incidents.”
He questioned Welch about his support of a religious exemption to Pinellas County human rights ordinances that protected members of the LGBTQ+ community in 2008.
Donovan also asked Welch to explain his current stance on a letter he wrote to then-St. Petersburg Times editor in 1995, claiming he “stood with the Bible in opposition to homosexuality and abortion.”
Welch firmly disagreed and said he felt Donovan’s questions were inaccurate.
“Let me tell you what I’m doing,” Welch said. “I’ve made the motion to add sexual orientation to human rights ordinances.”
Welch said he is a faith-based individual, but never opposed homosexuality and abortion. He said has “learned a lot” in the past 25 to 30 years of his life.
“I’ve become a very strong [LGBTQ+] ally. I am a person of faith, but my faith is not based on hatred and never has been,” Welch said.
Donovan asked Blackmon to explain disparaging Facebook posts he made about “several groups” from 2010 to 2012.
“One post referred to a woman as a ‘bitch’ and another called three generations of women, including a 3-year-old, ‘sluts,’” Donovan said.
When asked how voters should judge him for the social media posts, Blackmon said he shouldn’t be judged based on comments he made in the past and claimed he could not find the posts on his Facebook page.
“The past is the past, and we need to learn from old times, you know. Did I make jokes? All the time,” Blackmon said.
Blackmon said Welch used his response time during the debate to “make excuses for past behaviors.”
“I’m not going to do what my opponent just did and try to explain [issues] away,” Blackmon said.
Blackmon asked the audience to consider his history as an elected official of St. Petersburg.
“I have always stood up for what I believed in. I stood for the rights of all. I’ve gone to Trans Day of Remembrance, and I’ve marched in Pride,” Blackmon said.
The home of the Tampa Bay Rays, Tropicana Field, and affordable housing were also discussed between Welch and Blackmon.
Donovan asked Welch how voters can trust him to keep the Tampa Bay Rays in St. Petersburg after the team donated $50,000 to his campaign.
“The priority is jobs and equitable development, and [moving the Rays] has to be a fair deal to the city of St. Pete and the taxpayers,” Welch said.
Blackmon said he wants to make sure the Rays stay in St. Petersburg, but is losing hope.
“You know my opponent says all the time baseball is secondary, and then has gotten a $50,000 donation from the Rays just last week. It’s tough for me,” Blackmon said.
According to Blackmon, Welch and his father, a former member of the St. Petersburg City Council, had a chance to reinvent the Tropicana Field site for 40 years. However, Blackmon suggested the Welch family attempt to reinvent the site was a failed one.
In a rebuttal, Welch denounced Blackmon’s comment.
“Robert has said a number of outrageous things over the years and that’s just another one,” Welch said.
Blackmon, a local property investor, said “creating equity and economic growth for all” can help St. Petersburg achieve more affordable housing.
Donovan asked Blackmon how he plans to balance his right to seek profit while keeping rent affordable for residents. Blackmon said the answer lies within his “private business model” to take an asset and “make it better.”
Donovan said a representative from the St. Petersburg Tenants Union claimed Blackmon was “buying up properties and charging more for them, contributing to gentrification.”
In September, The Crow’s Nest reported that three eviction cases were filed at Paradise Apartments, a 10-unit complex purchased by Blackmon Properties in April. The cases were later settled after civil protests.
“None of those tenants were evicted, but they were non-communicative, and you sometimes have to go in there and be able to get a partnership going to make things better,” Blackmon said.
Blackmon said he partnered with the state to file a bill to allow affordable housing permit fees to be waived during an on-campus forum on Sept. 29.
Welch said he has been working on the issue of affordable housing since he was a Pinellas County commissioner.
“One of the issues I worked on in 2006 was creating the Housing Trust Fund and a community-wide housing task force,” Welch said. “In fact, buildings are still being built in our vicinity with affordable housing for folks making $19 an hour and less.”
Welch said he also led a homeless policy group that created funding for Catholic charity Pinellas Hope to “help folks who are homeless and folks who are evicted find a bathroom, emergency shelter and permanent supportive housing.”
The debate was hosted by the Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce in partnership with WFLA.
Current Mayor of St. Petersburg Rick Kriseman was first elected in 2013. He will leave office in November due to term limits.
Welch, a democrat and Blackmon, a republican, will compete in a runoff election on Nov. 2 and St. Petersburg’s next mayor will be sworn in on Jan. 6, 2022.
The next debate is scheduled for Oct. 19.
For more information on the election, visit votepinellas.com.
