Crist: 'I intend on running' for Congress “If the new congressional map includes my home, I intend on running to serve the people again,” Crist said in a post on Twitter.

Former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist all but announced his intentions to run for Congress in a Tampa Bay-area House seat that will likely be redrawn to include his home, have more Democrats and lack an incumbent.

“If the new congressional map includes my home, I intend on running to serve the people again,” Crist said in a Twitter post on Monday afternoon.


Crist’s announcement came hours after GOP Rep. David Jolly announced he would run for Senate instead of reelection.

Jolly’s Senate decision, which he had considered for some time, was accelerated by a recent Florida Supreme Court ruling that ordered the Florida Legislature to redraw the St. Petersburg-based 13th District because it was gerrymandered and gave Republicans an unfair advantage under the state’s voter-approved “Fair Districts” amendments. In all, eight districts of Florida’s 27 congressional districts were ruled unconstitutional July 9 and must be redrawn by the Legislature within about three months. The Legislature is expected to redraw the districts during a special session from Aug. 10-21.

The court stopped just short of specifically and clearly ordering the Legislature to redraw the 13th District to include the southeastern corner of the Pinellas County peninsula. That corner of the peninsula was instead included in Democratic Rep. Kathy Castor’s Tampa-based district, which is mostly in another county across the water.

“The enacted configuration of these two districts, which crossed Tampa Bay, added more Democratic voters to an already safely Democratic District 14, while ensuring that District 13 was more favorable to the Republican Party,” the court ruled. “Because the Legislature cannot justify its enacted configuration of these districts based on race — the only justification that was offered — the trial court should have invalidated these districts. Accordingly, Districts 13 and 14 must be redrawn to avoid crossing Tampa Bay.”

Along with tens of thousands of Democratic voters, Crist lives in this St. Petersburg corner of the 14th District that the court has ordered to be redrawn into the new 13th District.

Election results indicate Crist’s popularity in the district. In his failed 2014 bid against Gov. Rick Scott, Crist won the 13th District, 50 percent to 42 percent, with a total margin of 20,448 votes. But Crist beat Scott, 81 percent to 15 percent, in the Pinellas County corner in question. Total margin there: 21,259 votes.

Since districts can’t be drawn in a vacuum, lawmakers have to subtract a portion of the population in the 13th District when they add this corner pocket of voters. The only rational place to go: the more-conservative northern end of the district. In the 40 precincts of the north of the 13th District, Crist only beat Scott by 4.6 percentage points. Cut those voters out, add the voters from the 14th’s pocket, and this district looks perfect for the former governor.

Though the 13th District doesn’t cover all of Pinellas County, it accounts for a majority of it. Crist is the only Florida candidate to carry the county by a majority vote as a Republican, a Democrat and an independent.

Jolly’s consultants took a look at the numbers and realized the district would be almost impossible for a Republican to keep. Still, according to the local website Saint Petersblog, former St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker has expressed an interest in the seat. But he said he wanted to see how it would be drawn first. If Crist runs, he’ll have to face Democrat, Eric Lynn, who filed for the seat well before the Supreme Court decision. Insiders expect Crist to make quick work of him.

Earlier this year, sources say, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee leaders urged Crist to run for the seat. He demurred, however, because he wasn’t sure about running against an incumbent. Crist still hopes to run for statewide office again someday, sources said, and he didn’t want to risk a third straight defeat after losing in the 2010 Senate race and 2014 governor’s contest. Now, Jolly’s exit and the numbers have likely changed the game for Crist.

“He’d be crazy not to run for it,” Crist’s employer, donor and friend, trial lawyer John Morgan said in a previous interview with POLITICO, which first reported Crist’s interest earlier this month.