State Sen. Darryl Rouson has endorsed Mayor Ken Welch’s reelection bid, calling him “the right leader at the right time” for St. Petersburg. Rouson praised Welch’s record of neighborhood investment, affordability initiatives, public safety improvements and hurricane recovery efforts while highlighting a decades-long friendship between the two leaders. The endorsement adds another prominent local voice to Welch’s growing coalition of supporters ahead of the 2026 election.