The campaign trail is looking bright for state House candidate Darryl Rouson (left).

The St. Petersburg attorney secured a number of endorsements from a group of diverse community leaders recently, including Rep. Bill Heller, a Democrat from St. Petersburg, and Republican Deveron Gibbons, a vice president at  Amscot Financial and a well-known Midtown activist.

A number of St. Petersburg faith leaders also have thrown their support behind Rouson, including Pastor Manuel L. Sykes of Bethel Community Baptist Church and Pastor Louis Murphy of Mount Zion Progressive Missionary Baptist Church.

Rouson is running for the state House District 55 seat. The special
election comes on the heels of Rep. Frank Peterman's appointment as
secretary of Florida's Department of Juvenile Justice. The primary
election is March 25.

Three other Democrats are running against Rouson, a former
Republican: educator Charles McKenzie, St. Petersburg City Council
Member Earnest Williams and University of South Florida student Steven
Lapinski. A Republican has not entered the race.

Rouson's recent endorsements are in addition to Peterman's announcement earlier this month that he would support Rouson.

- Cristina Silva, Times staff writer