Former St. Petersburg city council member and state legislator Wengay Newton says that his experience and ability to work with people from both sides of the political aisle makes him the ideal candidate to succeed Rick Kriseman when St. Pete voters go to the polls to select their next mayor later this year.

“I’m the only one with a documented voting record across party lines - not seeing party - seeing the possibilities of what can be done, for the area of greatest neglect,” he told Spectrum Bay News 9 on Wednesday. 

Newton also emphasizes that his four years in the GOP-controlled Florida Legislature has allowed him to build relationships with Republican state leaders – including Governor Ron DeSantis - that he says will “bring home much needed resources for the city.”

The South St. Pete native’s career in public office began in 2007, when he was elected to the St. Petersburg City Council. He won reelection in 2011, and then moved on to Tallahassee representing District 70 in the Florida House in 2016 (the area represents parts of Pinellas, Hillsborough, Manatee and Sarasota counties). 

Newton is a moderate Democrat who alienated some members of his own party when he endorsed Republican Rick Baker over fellow Democrat Rick Kriseman in the 2017 mayoral election. He says he has no regrets over that decision, citing Baker’s efforts in South St. Pete when he led the city from 2001-2010.

“Where Mayor Baker and I got that grocery store put in, that YMCA, that bank. He had a majority Democratic council, so that was no partisanship. That was people working together, with the best idea to move this city forward,” he says. “Partisanship is not going to do it.”

However, that independence undoubtedly cost Newton votes last summer, when he lost in the Democratic Primary for the Pinellas County Commission District 7 seat. Newton says it was a form of “voter suppression.”

ABOVE: Wengay Newton talks about voter supression

“That county commission race, only Democrats could vote,” he recounts. “We received thousands of calls from people who were either independents, NPAs and Republicans who could not vote.”

That District 7 Pinellas County Commission seat skews heavily Democratic, and Rene Flowers defeated Newton by more than 18 points in that primary last August. Flowers then went on to easily defeat independent Maria Scruggs for the seat in November. 

Newton says he’s not concerned that his appeal to Republican voters may now be negatively affected with the announcement that former City Councilman Robert Blackmon -a registered Republican - has entered the mayoral contest.

Newton also says it’s a benefit to voters that during his eight years on council, he worked with three different administrations – Baker, Kriseman and all four years with Bill Foster.

When talking about the efforts to economically boost South St. Pete, Newton is critical of Kriseman’s leadership.

“Mayor Baker had a recession. Foster had a deep recession. The current administration had a surplus. All surplus from day one. And look at the area of greatest neglect,” he says of the southside, bemoaning what he says has been “no major development” in the area in recent years.

Newton says he supports the Tampa Bay Rays proposal to play half of their home games in Montreal, as long as the city is allowed full access to the Rays ballpark when they’re not playing games there. 

“We should have no taxpayer asset sitting around dormant not generating stuff to help these taxpayers,” he says.

Regarding negotiations with the Rays, he also says he’d allow members of city council to attend such meetings with the ball club's management team. “We need to have five voters at the table, so that they can agree to what’s going on and we can move this forward,” he says, referring to a majority of councilmembers needed to approve any potential deal the city’s chief executive would make with the team.

While a recent St. Pete Polls survey shows that the majority of voters in St. Petersburg don’t know who they’re going to support for mayor later this year, Newton is solidly in the mix, garnering more than 12 percent of the vote, just a few points behind city council member Darden Rice and former Pinellas County Commissioner Ken Welch.

The primary election takes place August 24.