Despite historic Southside achievements, Foster falls to third place with black voters, still leads City by a hair

I am posting this on behalf of my friend Gypsy Gallardo, the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of The Power Broker Magazine.  This piece originally ran in the Weekly Challenger.

Four things are clear in the latest poll of black voters for the Mayor’s race (taken August 19th by StPetePolls). Over the past two weeks, Kathleen Ford lost ground with black voters; Bill Foster lost even more; and Rick Kriseman pulled ahead of the pack, for the first time in this race.

But even more surprising, black voters appear to be rethinking their original pick for Mayor in the final days before the August 27th primary election. While the percentage of undecided white voters shrank from 13.4% to 5.3% (as one would expect as election day draws near), the share of undecided black voters ballooned from 14.5% to 21.3% in a mere 15 days since an the August 4th StPetePolls survey.

Community leaders say, that’s not necessarily a bad thing, especially since many of them are pushing African American voters to take a hard look at the issue of “money” this year.

Pastor Manuel Sykes, a key backer of the new 2020 Plan to reduce poverty by 30% in South St. Petersburg by the year 2020, says “I’m proud to see so many Southside voters taking this race so seriously, and asking candidates the tough questions about what they will and won’t do when it comes to investing City dollars into creating jobs and reducing poverty in our community.”

At the beginning of this month, Foster and Ford were neck-and-neck among African American voters. He had 30% to her 29.5%. Kriseman trailed at 26%.

But as of this Monday, Kriseman had bumped Foster out of the number 1 spot with black voters, rising 2.1% to take the lead. Ford remained at the number two spot but dropped by 5.3%, while Mayor Foster slid nearly 10 points, falling from first place to third.

“This Mayoral election is at a crucial time when we need someone that has the vision and leadership to navigate the city through major issues such as the Pier, the Rays, and the high percentage of African American leaders leaving the police department, as well as the possibility of hiring a new chief of police,” says Pastor Louis Murphy when asked about the poll results. 

Rev. Murphy continued, “But what is most critical is having a Mayor that will commit and fully buy into a revolutionary plan (the 2020 Plan) that offers a comprehensive solution to the economic impact poverty has on our community.”

Others see it as a mixture of personality and preparation. Jeffery Peaten, one of nearly 100 African American leaders present at the demographically mixed Aug. 14th Open Mic Forum by Agenda 2010, the NAACP and SEIU, says “Kriseman surprised me when the candidates were asked to name specific instances of institutional racism. Instead of giving the standard ‘I don’t tolerate discrimination’ answer, he was able to actually cite examples. He’d obviously done his homework.”

And although Mayor Foster can be credited with at least two major innovations for the Southside community, he doesn’t seem to be getting much credit for them. He dropped from 30% of the black vote on August 4th to 20.2% on August 19th.

Foster has been a friend and advocate of the new Southside Community Redevelopment Area being forged under a three-way partnership between County, City and Community leaders. In addition to being the first CRA in Pinellas County to be established in a low-income area, it is also one of the top three largest CRAs in the state.

Added to his credits, Foster was the catalyst for the new African American Heritage Trail project to commemorate historic sites and history-makers in South St. Petersburg.

Mozelle Davis, widow of educational pioneer Vyrle Davis, says “I’m supporting Mayor Foster because of his presence in this community over the years, dating to well before he took office, and because of the positive direction of our City, despite difficult times economically.”

So why isn’t Foster pulling more support in the polls? One unnamed source says “It’s the rumor mill that’s hurting the Mayor. People hear what others say, including misinformation, and instead of becoming educated for themselves, go along with what ‘they said.’”

But it’s also undeniable that the candidates have taken sharply different positions about when and how to invest in the new Southside CRA and 2020 Plan. The question drew a medium-hot exchange during the August 16th WRXB On-Air Forum between Foster and Kriseman. Ford was a no show.

In response to Kriseman’s assertion that yes, the City can and should consider using excess reserve funds to invest in Southside development, Foster replied by challenging Kriseman to find those funds because “they don’t exist.” A recent analysis by SEIU (Service Employees International Union) identified $15.6 million in excess operating reserves, above the amount required by City regulations.

Don’t count the race over yet, though. Over one-fifth of black voters haven’t made up their minds, compared to just 5% of white voters who remain undecided. Plus, Foster still leads Kriseman by 1.6% among voters citywide.

Meanwhile, the candidates are keeping the heat on. Just last night, all five of the Mayoral candidates were scheduled to appear at a Child’s Park forum led by young voters who may just help increase black voter turnout this year. 

See the Southside Voter Guide for the candidates’ stances on investments into Southside redevelopment from the Agenda 2010/NAACP Candidate questionnaire in July.