The race to replace St. Petersburg City Councilmember Brandi Gabbard is beginning to take shape.
Two candidates filed Feb. 27 for Gabbard’s District 2 seat, which covers parts of northeast St. Petersburg from Bayou Grande to Feather Sound, and from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard east to Tampa Bay.
The new candidates are Gabriel Hament, an assistant public defender in Florida’s 13th Judicial Circuit, and Courtney Bermudez, a community association manager with Resource Property Management.
Gabbard cannot seek reelection due to the city’s term limits, which restrict council members to two consecutive four-year terms. Gabbard, first elected in 2017, has said she intends to run for mayor, challenging incumbent Ken Welch, though she has not officially filed yet.
Hament moved to St. Petersburg after graduating from the University of Florida’s Levin College of Law. He now works out of the Hillsborough County Public Defender’s office, representing defendants who cannot afford private counsel.
Before entering law, Hament worked in financial advisory roles with charitable organizations. That included service on Sarasota County Schools’ Financial Advisory Committee, where members reviewed district financial planning and reserve funds.
Hament has also worked as a community organizer focused on voter access and civic participation. His early campaign priorities include affordability, public safety and infrastructure improvements tied to coastal resiliency.
Bermudez works as a licensed Community Association Manager. The position involves overseeing financial operations, administrative compliance and property management responsibilities for condominium and homeowners associations.