St. Pete City Council member-elect Ed Montanari will finally celebrate his uncontested win on election night Tuesday.
Montanari and supporters will be at the Green Bench Brewery in city’s Edge District from 6:30-8:30 p.m.
“Words cannot express what an honor it is to be able to serve on our city council,” Montanari wrote in an email. “I am looking forward to being sworn in January 2, to serve all of the people in St. Petersburg, and to move boldly into our future with hope and promise to make our great city even better.”
Montanari was automatically elected to office June 22 when the city’s qualifying period ended without any opponent filing to run against him.
Montanari will replace outgoing Councilmember Bill Dudley, who is term-limited out of his District 3 seat. The swap in leadership is symbolic. Montanari narrowly lost to Dudley in 2007 for the same seat. The race was separated by just 300 votes.
Dudley endorsed Montanari as his replacement.
It was clear almost from the get-go that Montanari would be a formidable candidate. Early on in his campaign he raised nearly $50,000 before the end of qualifying. He later returned more than $33,000 to supporters through pro-rated refund checks – a promise he made when soliciting campaign contributions.
Montanari is a commercial airline pilot who has been active in the community for more than a decade. He served as vice chair of the Pier Task Force that chose the Lens design voters later squashed.
He was also a key leader of the city’s task force deciding the fate of Albert Whitted Airport in 2004.
While Montanari knows his party will be a celebration, six other candidates will have to wait and see.
Incumbents Steve Kornell and Charlie Gerdes both face challengers in their re-election bids. Philip Garrett is trying to oust Kornell by running on an early childhood education and lower taxes platform. He accuses Kornell of having not accomplished much during his six years in office.
Gerdes faces community activist Monica Abbott. Both incumbents are expected to cruise to easy re-election.
The most contentious City Council race is between firefighter union bargainer Will Newton and community activist Lisa Wheeler-Brown. That race is widely considered one of the nastiest in recent memory and is expected to be close.
