Civil justice attorney Augie Ribeiro will not run for the District 6 seat on the St. Petersburg City Council District 6 after all.
“There are serious candidates in the race with good purpose and passion to represent this district,” Ribeiro wrote in an email to SPB late Wednesday night. “I wish them the best of luck.”
Ribeiro said last month that he was considering a run for the seat, where there are now eight people running to succeed a term-limited Karl Nurse this year, by far the largest field of candidates for the four council seats on the ballot.
The latest candidate to enter is Gina Driscoll, the president of the St. Petersburg Downtown Neighborhood Association. Her entry temporarily increased the field to nine, but her announcement was immediately followed by the departure of John Johnson.
It’s unclear how Ribeiro would have done in the contest. Despite his high profile, late entry into the Senate District 19 race last summer, Ribeiro finished last in that four person race, running against three much better known candidates who had all previously been on the ballot in Hillsborough or Pinellas Counties.
One thing is for sure, though, if he had entered the contest – he would have spent whatever it took to win the seat. Ribeiro spent more than $672,000 in just two months in his unsuccessful bid for the SD 19 seat last year.
