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City of St. Petersburg
Copley Gerdes
City Council, District 1
Democrat
RESOLUTE Citizen Score
0
/ 100
F
Raw: 0 of 4 dynamic max
· 2 of 30 answered
Local tier30 of 50 rubric questions apply at this office level — federal-only questions are marked N/A and excluded from the dynamic max. How tier grading works →
Last verified: · scorecard-level timestamp
✝ God First
0/ 70
🏛️ Local First
0/ 30
National Rank
#8,195 of 8,966 · bottom 8.6% among candidates with at least one scored answer
See the full rankings →Contact This Official
Reach out directly. Your voice matters. Proverbs 29:2 — When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice.
Official Profile
Religion: Roman Catholic (St. Petersburg Catholic High School alumnus; B.A. in Religion with Catholic Studies emphasis from Saint Leo University, a Catholic institution; personal faith is documented but no specific policy position derived from it)
Background: Charles 'Copley' Gerdes. City of St. Petersburg, Florida City Council District 1 since January 6, 2022 (special election to replace Robert Blackmon); re-elected UNOPPOSED Nov 5, 2024; current term ends January 4, 2029. Officially NONPARTISAN ballot. Council CHAIR since December 2024 (elected after five rounds of voting); also Chair of Budget, Finance & Taxation Committee. Listed #21 on Florida Politics' Tampa Bay Most Powerful Politicians. Family: son of former St. Pete Councilmember Charlie Gerdes (also held D1) and nephew of city administrator Rob Gerdes. Education: St. Petersburg Catholic HS; B.A. Religion (Catholic Studies emphasis), Saint Leo University. Profession: financial advisor with Northwestern Mutual since 2011; also Director of Special Projects / Strategic Development at family law firm Keane, Reese, Vesely & Gerdes P.A. Married Cecily Valenty (2016); two children. Catholic faith publicly documented via education path but no derived policy position scored.
St Petersburg City Council D1 since Jan 6, 2022; re-elected UNOPPOSED Nov 5, 2024; current term to Jan 4, 2029; Council CHAIR since Dec 2024 (also Budget/Finance/Taxation Chair). Officially NP ballot. [2026-06 RESOLUTE LOCAL refinement] HARD evidence: (a) biblical_marriage q4 FALSE — as Council Chair, PERSONALLY INTRODUCED the June 4, 2026 Pride flag-raising ceremony at City Hall (Tampa Bay Times / Watermark Out News); in October 2025 voted YES to advance Councilmember Driscoll's 'Harmony' (LGBTQ+) and 'History' (Black history) city-flag variations (joining Driscoll, Givens, Figgs-Sanders, Floyd, Hanewicz; only Harting voted no). His own quote: 'I want to throw a haymaker… I don't want to throw a jab.' (b) economic_stewardship q2 FALSE — as Budget/Finance/Taxation Chair voted YES on the FY24 city budget that Catalyst headlined as 'begrudgingly approves budget, 13% tax increase'; YES on the $287.5M Rays stadium bonds + $142M Gas Plant District bonds (4-3, July 2024); YES on the original 5-3 stadium agreement. Pattern: chairs the budget committee, votes for major debt issuance + tax increases. NULL on sanctity_of_life (no St Pete pro-life resolution; no Gerdes statement on abortion), family_child_sovereignty (Pinellas school board is separate authority), christian_liberty (Catholic faith documented in profile.religion but no policy vote — religion is biographical not scoreable on its own per evidence-first rule), election_integrity (no Gerdes-specific election-admin vote), public_justice (CALL — Community Assistance & Life Liaison — is a partial-diversion social-worker-first model that diverts certain 911 calls FROM sworn officers; Gerdes praised CALL participation; no affirmative pro-police statement clears the rubric's high bar), refuse_state_overreach (his pro-LGBTQ-flag stance opposing DeSantis state actions defends progressive priorities — not the rubric's conservative-subsidiarity anchor; held null), border_immigration (the 2017 'sanctuary city' comments were from his FATHER Charlie Gerdes, NOT Copley — do not attribute), and self_defense (FL 790.33 preempts). DISCIPLINE FLAGS: father/son distinction matters (Charlie Gerdes was the 2017 sanctuary-city commenter); Catholic-school + Catholic-university religion degree is biographically suggestive but NOT scored as a policy verdict per evidence-first rule.
Category Breakdown
Candidate affirms life begins at conception and personhood from conception
Not yet verified
Candidate (if District Attorney) has committed to prosecuting illegal abortion procedures; (if mayor/council) has supported pro-life city resolutions or refused to declare 'sanctuary city for abortion'
Not yet verified
Candidate opposes embryonic stem-cell research, IVF embryo discard, and chimeric experimentation
N/A · out of tier
Candidate opposes euthanasia, physician-assisted suicide, and quality-of-life rationing
N/A · out of tier
Candidate has never accepted Planned Parenthood, NARAL, EMILY's List, or abortion-industry PAC funding
N/A · out of tier
Candidate affirms marriage as exclusively the lifelong union of one man and one woman as instituted by God
Not yet verified
Candidate opposes all forms of same-sex marriage, civil unions, and domestic partnerships in law
N/A · out of tier
Candidate opposes city/county trans-affirming policies (bathroom mandates on private businesses, Pride flag raisings at city hall, pronouns-required HR rules)
Not yet verified
Candidate supports no-fault divorce reform and policies that strengthen the marriage covenant
N/A · out of tier
Candidate (school board) opts the district into school-choice transfers + protects homeschool freedom + opposes truancy-based criminal referrals
Not yet verified
Candidate (school board) requires parental notification before any gender/sexuality counseling of minors; (mayor/council) opposes city programs facilitating minor medical procedures without parents
Not yet verified
Candidate (school board) has voted to remove CRT/SOGI/comprehensive-sex-ed/gender-ideology materials from district curriculum and library shelves
Not yet verified
Candidate (mayor/council/library board) supports local enforcement of age-verification + removes sexualized content from library children's sections
N/A · out of tier
Candidate supports faith-based adoption/foster agencies and opposes placement of children with same-sex couples
N/A · out of tier
Candidate affirms the right to publicly profess Christ in all spheres (workplace, military, public office, schools)
Not yet verified
Candidate supports conscience exemptions for Christian medical professionals, business owners, adoption agencies, and educators
N/A · out of tier
Candidate (city/county/school board) opposes mandatory pronoun policies for staff + employees + students
Not yet verified
Candidate (mayor/council) supports city/county Christian displays (Ten Commandments, Nativity scenes), invocation prayer at meetings, Sunday-closure where chosen by community
Not yet verified
Candidate opposes city-funded non-Christian religious displays/programming (Ramadan illumination, etc.) at city facilities
Not yet verified
Candidate (city/county) opposes city participation in CBDC pilot programs + supports cash-acceptance ordinances for local businesses
N/A · out of tier
Candidate supports sound-money policies including gold/silver as constitutional money and audit/abolition of the Federal Reserve
N/A · out of tier
Candidate (mayor/council) has voted against deficit-bond issuances for non-capital city expenditures + supports balanced city budgets without service cuts via tax increases on residents
Candidate supports usury limits, anti-debt-slavery protections, and tithe-friendly tax structures
N/A · out of tier
Candidate (city/county) has voted to remove city pension/treasury investment in ESG-aligned funds + opposes city participation in WEF-aligned sister-city programs
N/A · out of tier
Candidate (city clerk/county election official) supports hand-counted paper ballots at local precincts where state law permits
Not yet verified
Candidate (city clerk/election official) enforces state photo voter ID + citizenship verification at local precincts
Not yet verified
Candidate supports single-day in-person voting with absentee only for verified medical/military exceptions
N/A · out of tier
Candidate opposes mass mail-in voting, drop boxes, and ballot harvesting
N/A · out of tier
Candidate (city clerk/council) refused acceptance of private election-administration grants ('Zuckerbucks')
Not yet verified
Candidate supports completed physical border barrier and active military border presence
N/A · out of tier
Candidate (DA/sheriff) cooperates with ICE detainers + transfers; (mayor/council) supports local cooperation with ICE rather than sanctuary policies
Not yet verified
Candidate (city/county) has voted against local sanctuary-city ordinances + supports city cooperation with federal immigration enforcement
Not yet verified
Candidate supports mandatory E-Verify for all employment and benefit eligibility
N/A · out of tier
Candidate opposes birthright citizenship for children of illegal aliens, tourist births, and opposes foreign ownership of U.S. farmland
N/A · out of tier
Candidate (mayor/council) opposes local gun-registry ordinances + local gun-shop zoning restrictions
Not yet verified
Candidate (city/council) opposes local-ordinance red-flag/magazine/AWB analogs + local gun-shop zoning restrictions
Not yet verified
Candidate supports repeal of the National Firearms Act (NFA), Gun Control Act (GCA), and other federal gun regulations
N/A · out of tier
Candidate supports castle doctrine and stand-your-ground laws with full civil immunity for lawful defense
N/A · out of tier
Candidate opposes ATF overreach, citizen disarmament initiatives, and U.N. small-arms treaty participation
N/A · out of tier
Candidate has publicly backed law enforcement and opposed defunding/dismantling police
Not yet verified
Candidate opposes cashless-bail, soft-on-crime, and rogue-prosecutor (e.g. Soros-DA) policy
Not yet verified
Candidate supports victim restitution and proportional punishment of evildoers
Not yet verified
Candidate refuses to treat violent crime as a "public health" excuse to avoid punishment
Not yet verified
Candidate affirms the magistrate's God-ordained duty to bear the sword (Rom. 13:4)
Not yet verified
Official has asserted local control against unconstitutional state mandates
Not yet verified
Official has declined state strings that compel ungodly or unconstitutional local policy
Not yet verified
Official has protected local citizens from state overreach (lockdowns, mandates, ESG)
Not yet verified
Official affirms subsidiarity — decisions made at the lowest competent level
Not yet verified
Official has refused to enforce unconstitutional state directives
Not yet verified
Sources & Evidence
3 Center2 Official5 Other
Ballotpedia ProfileCenter
votecopleygerdes.com/Unclassified
Bias ratings sourced from AllSides and Ad Fontes Media. Classifications for government, reference, and advocacy domains are maintained by U.S.M.C. Ministries; see source_bias.json.
References & footnotes
Every answer above with a [n] marker corresponds to one of the footnotes below. Wayback-archive links preserve the page as it read at our access date so a reader can verify the citation even if the original URL changes or disappears.
- [1]As Council Chair, personally INTRODUCED the June 4, 2026 Pride flag-raising ceremony at City Hall; in October 2025 voted YES to advance Driscoll's LGBTQ+ 'Harmony' and Black-history 'History' city-flag variations. Own quote: 'I want to throw a haymaker… I don't want to throw a jab.' Unclassified
As Council Chair, personally INTRODUCED the June 4, 2026 Pride flag-raising ceremony at City Hall; in October 2025 voted YES to advance Driscoll's LGBTQ+ 'Harmony' and Black-history 'History' city-flag variations. Own quote: 'I want to throw a haymaker… I don't want to throw a jab.'
- [2]As Council Chair, personally INTRODUCED the June 4, 2026 Pride flag-raising ceremony at City Hall; in October 2025 voted YES to advance Driscoll's LGBTQ+ 'Harmony' and Black-history 'History' city-flag variations. Own quote: 'I want to throw a haymaker… I don't want to throw a jab.' Unclassified
As Council Chair, personally INTRODUCED the June 4, 2026 Pride flag-raising ceremony at City Hall; in October 2025 voted YES to advance Driscoll's LGBTQ+ 'Harmony' and Black-history 'History' city-flag variations. Own quote: 'I want to throw a haymaker… I don't want to throw a jab.'
- [3]As Budget/Finance/Taxation Chair voted YES on FY24 budget that approved a 13% tax increase ('begrudgingly approves' per Catalyst); YES on $287.5M Rays stadium bonds + $142M Gas Plant District bonds (4-3, July 2024); YES on the original 5-3 stadium agreement. Unclassified
As Budget/Finance/Taxation Chair voted YES on FY24 budget that approved a 13% tax increase ('begrudgingly approves' per Catalyst); YES on $287.5M Rays stadium bonds + $142M Gas Plant District bonds (4-3, July 2024); YES on the original 5-3 stadium agreement.
- [4]As Budget/Finance/Taxation Chair voted YES on FY24 budget that approved a 13% tax increase ('begrudgingly approves' per Catalyst); YES on $287.5M Rays stadium bonds + $142M Gas Plant District bonds (4-3, July 2024); YES on the original 5-3 stadium agreement. Center
As Budget/Finance/Taxation Chair voted YES on FY24 budget that approved a 13% tax increase ('begrudgingly approves' per Catalyst); YES on $287.5M Rays stadium bonds + $142M Gas Plant District bonds (4-3, July 2024); YES on the original 5-3 stadium agreement.
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