Current mayor Rick Kriseman and former St. Pete Mayor Rick Baker will have to compete for votes again in November after neither of the two reached the 51 percent vote threshold in the St. Pete mayoral race.
More than 56,000 St. Petersburg voters voted by mail and in person Tuesday in two different high profile races: The Mayor and District 6 city council seat.
The main candidates for mayor were current mayor Rick Kriseman and former St. Pete Mayor Rick Baker. The other candidates included: Ernisa Barnwell, Anthony Cates III, Paul Congemi, Theresa Lassiter and Jesse Nevel.
Separated by just 69 votes, Kriseman received 27,322 votes (48.36 percent) while Baker received 27,253 votes (48.23 percent), according to the Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections.
Neither Kriseman nor Baker, the top two candidates in Tuesday's primary, received more than 51 percent of the votes causing them to move on to the November 7 general election.
If either of the two had received more than 51 percent of the vote, they would have outright won the mayoral race for office.
The district 6 city council candidates were: Justin Bean, Robert Blackmon, Eritha Akilé Cainion, Gina Driscoll, Corey Givens Jr, Jim Jackson, James Scott, Maria L. Scruggs.
Justin Bean received 1,442 votes (21.14 percent) and Gina Driscoll received 1,215 votes (17.81 percent) making them the top two candidates that will also move on to Novembers' general election.
RELATED | St. Petersburg Mayoral and City Council District 6 primaries held on Tuesday
Both Kriseman and Baker told ABC Action News they were feeling confident about the race. Several hot button topics have taken center stage in the Rick vs. Rick campaign including keeping the Rays in St. Pete, the new pier and the ongoing issues with the city’s aging sewer system.
