It came in the form of a Facebook status update: Ken Welch is remaining on the County Commission, and looking forward to the challenges ahead…

This comes the same day that State Representative Rick Kriseman decided not to run for mayor. When Kriseman bowed out, conventional wisdom was that Welch was getting in. Guess not.

The two “800lb gorillas” are not running. That leaves a scramble among a number of candidates.