Byron Donalds riffs

A political committee supporting Mayor Ken Welch’s reelection released the first direct attack advertisement of St. Petersburg’s election season. It signals a potentially potent line of attack against the candidate Welch sees as his main political rival — former Gov. Charlie Crist. But it’s a strategy that carries some risk. In the nonpartisan race to lead a Democrat-leaning city, Welch is quickly reminding voters of Crist’s Republican roots and past socially conservative stated beliefs.

U.S. House of Representatives candidate Timothy “Brandt” Robinson has the cheese touch. Perhaps it was inevitable, sitting next to Jeff Kinney, author of the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”book series and creator of the “cooties”-like cheese touch curse. The 300-million-copy bestselling writer spent Thursday evening onstage with Robinson as he spoke to an audience at the Coliseum in downtown St. Petersburg about his campaign.

In the first forum that featured all six candidates running for mayor, audience members perked up at a question about how to balance new high rises with St. Petersburg’s character and identity. Candidates spoke about how neighborhoods feel neglected as high-rises soar downtown while the 2024 hurricane season underscored the need to infrastructure to protect nearby flood-prone neighborhoods. “The focus has been downtown, downtown, downtown, and how can the buildings be higher, higher, higher.