ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Darden Rice made it official on Tuesday. The fifty-year-old city councilman is now a candidate for mayor of St. Petersburg.

“I am looking forward to being the best mayor for everybody,” Rice told Spectrum Bay News 9 in an interview in front of City Hall Tuesday morning. “I’ve reached out to support from across the city, and have support from across the city, and I’m looking forward to campaigning and showing why I will be the best mayor to lead the city for everybody.”

The self-proclaimed “proud progressive” has been preparing for her run for the executive job for nearly two years now. That’s when she started up her political committee, Friends of Darden Rice, which has now raised more than $200,000.

Rice has served on the city council since 2013, but was prominent in public policy circles for years before becoming an elected official. That includes stints with Sierra Club Florida, the president of the St. Pete chapter of the League of Women Voters, and the health care policy director for Progress Florida.

Rice says that the number one challenge in St. Pete is the drive for inclusivity and economic prosperity.

“As we grow, we want to grow in a way that protects all of our neighborhoods, and provides opportunity for everybody,” she says.  

Regarding conditions in south St. Petersburg, Rice says she has a “perfect record when it comes to defending and protecting the south side and making sure that we are offering opportunities and help to the many people who deserve that and who want to succeed and thrive.”

Rice grew up in Virginia and North Carolina but has called St. Pete home for decades. She’s been at the forefront of many issues on the council, including transportation, campaign finance laws, and affordable housing.

Regarding the latter, she talks about her role in helping to get $15 million in Penny for Pinellas dollars dedicated to closing the gap in financing to build more affordable homes and apartments.  And she also says she’s proud of joining with her colleagues in being creative when it comes to land development regulations.

“Can we build more apartments that are courtyards?” she says. “Can we tweak the density so that we can have more apartment buildings along major corridors where there’s transit? And that way we offer people the opportunity to maybe afford a slightly less expensive apartment but maybe they won’t need a car because they’re living near a transit line.  That’s the big picture that we’re heading towards.”

WEB EXTRA VIDEO: Darden Rice was recently elected to serve as chair of Forward Pinellas, a countywide land use and transportation agency. We asked her take on how transportation can improve in St. Petersburg if she’s elected to become mayor.

In the press release announcing her candidacy, Rice is going big on education, saying she wants to create universal pre-kindergarten and free two-year community college and technical programs during her first term as mayor – though she wasn’t ready to get into details when asked about that on Tuesday.

“I’ll talk a lot more about education in the coming weeks and months on the campaign trail,” she said.

Rice was instrumental in the city council passing a measure limiting campaign contributions to political committees to $5,000 in 2017. A Florida Politics report from last year raised questions regarding whether she was in compliance with a part of the ordinance regarding disclosure requirements, but Rice dismissed that on Tuesday.

“I am completely complying with that law,” she said, adding “it is just the first step to getting big money out of local elections. And I look forward to continuing to work on this issue.”

While Rice would not be the first female mayor of St. Pete if elected (that would be Corinne Freeman, who served from 1977-1985), she would be the first openly elected member of the LGBTQ community to become mayor.                                                             

Rice is the third candidate to officially enter the race, which is an open seat with incumbent Rick Kriseman being term-limited out of office. She joins 20-year-old USFSP student Michael Ingram and former city council member and state legislator Wengay Newton in the contest. Former Pinellas County Commissioner Ken Welch is also expected to join the race.

“My hopes are that we are going to have a robust discussion about the future of our city,” she said about the upcoming campaign. “It’s my hope that we will have great discussions and debates. About how we continue to thrive and take our city to an even brighter future. You know, people are tired of the fighting. People want unity. People want to see local government lead the way on solutions, and that’s why I’m running for mayor.”

The primary for St. Petersburg mayor takes place on August 24.