The third coming of Crist

By Kelly Cohen, Kelly Cohen

Published December 20, 2015

Former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, once a Republican, has announced he will be running for Congress as a Democrat.

This will be Crist's third attempt to return to politics after losing a Senate bid in 2010 and Florida's gubernatorial race last year. He was elected governor as a Republican before becoming an independent and then a Democrat.

Crist, who made the announcement Tuesday in his hometown of St. Petersburg, will be running for Florida's open 13th District based on a new congressional map waiting to be approved by the Florida Supreme Court. The new map, which should be adopted soon, puts the district in the southeast corner of St. Petersburg, an area known to have a heavily Democratic population.

Should Crist win, he would replace U.S. Rep. David Jolly, a Republican who is running for Senate.