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Justin Bean picks up endorsement of St. Pete Police officers union

in The Bay and the 'Burg/Top Headlines by

The Suncoast Police Benevolent Association is endorsing businessman Justin Bean in the St. Petersburg District 6 City Council race.

“I am humbled and honored to receive the endorsement of those who run toward danger to protect us,” Bean said Wednesday. “I know our Police Department is critical to the future success of St. Pete and I look forward to working with them to build a St. Pete that works for everyone.”

Bean is a hotly contested race against Gina Driscoll for the District 6 seat, which is being vacated this November by a term-limited Karl Nurse after a decade of service.

Bean received the most votes in the eight-person primary field last August, while Driscoll narrowly made the general election, winning by just two votes over Robert Blackmon to get into the one-on-one race.

A St. Pete Polls survey Tuesday shows that while fully half of the more than 1,000 voters surveyed by St. Pete Polls are undecided in the race, of those paying attention, 30 percent are backing Driscoll, 20 percent are supporting Bean.

The police union has previously announced their endorsements of Rick Kriseman in the mayoral contest, as well as Darden Rice in the District 4 race and Brandi Gabbard in District 2.

Mitch Perry has been a reporter with Extensive Enterprises since November of 2014. Previously, he served as five years as the political editor of the alternative newsweekly Creative Loafing. He also was the assistant news director with WMNF 88.5 FM in Tampa from 2000-2009, and currently hosts MidPoint, a weekly talk show, on WMNF on Thursday afternoons. He began his reporting career at KPFA radio in Berkeley. He's a San Francisco native who has now lived in Tampa for 15 years and can be reached at [email protected]

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