Election brings black majority to city’s chief fiscal body
By American staff
Alderman Lewis Reed confounded conventional political wisdom and made history on Tuesday night by defeating 24-year aldermanic veteran and incumbent President of the Board of Aldermen Jim Shrewsbury.
In what only could be described as a beatdown, Reed, a two-term 6th Ward alderman, buried Shrewsbury by a vote of 14,729 (53.62 percent) to 12,687 (46.18 percent), with a whopping 2,042 votes and 7.44 percent margin of victory.
Official voter turnout city-wide was 14 percent.
Reed’s victory brings an African-American majority to the city’s Board of Estimate and Apportionment, its powerful chief fiscal body, as he will join Comptroller Darlene Green and Mayor Francis G. Slay in voting on the city’s financial policies and decisions.
When Reed took to the podium at his Jefferson Arms campaign headquarters on Tuesday night, he was greeted by the cheers of about 100 supporters, including family, friends and members of what he called his “political family.”
Among a large and diverse network of supporters, which included a majority of the city’s aldermen, Reed singled out by name Aldermen April Ford Griffin and Jennifer Florida and state Rep. Rodney Hubbard.
“We had over half the members of the Board of Alderman who stepped forward,” Reed said. “And when they stepped forward, it wasn’t an easy step. But they did it because they cared about their constituency.”
Given that Kacie Starr Triplet, an African American, won her race to replace Reed as 6th Ward alderman, African Americans will now have 13 of the 29 votes on the Board of Aldermen, just two votes shy of a majority.
Reed’s position as president of the aldermanic board also is a significant increase in power.
“The president of the Board of Aldermen appoints the committees, so he really drives the flow of legislation,” former Comptroller Virvus Jones said.
“And he votes on each committee, because he is an ex-officio member of each committee.”
Reed said he topped Shrewsbury with his ground campaign.
“When we started, nobody thought we had a chance,” he said. “But here’s what happened: Some believed, and they carried that on to others.”
“We knew it was time for a change at City Hall and a new president of the Board of Aldermen,” said License Collector Mike McMillan, a co-chair of Reed’s campaign and early supporter. “And through hard work we have made it happen.
“Lewis had a vision and many people behind him,” said 5h Ward Alderman April Ford Griffin. “There is nothing selfish about Lewis Reed. He wants to build coalitions and bridges.”
“This is something we did together,” Florida said of Reed’s victory.
“It’s about our future and a new day in St. Louis. We are now well on our way to our future of making sure that St. Louis is the most beautiful, wonderful city to live in.”
Hubbard said Reed’s victory “shows that we can all come together and build a bridge to a better St. Louis.”
Former state Rep. Elbert Walton, a savvy political analyst, told the American, “Reed jumped out early and ran hard. His backers put an enormous amount of work into winning his election, while Shrewsbury sat back comfortable in his belief that Reed could not win – a belief that was generally shared by most political pundits.”
Walton referred to the conventional wisdom that no black candidate in St. Louis will win a city-wide election running one-on-one against a formidable white candidate due to lower black voter turnout.
“Also, the white candidate usually enjoys the votes of white Republicans who have no primary candidates,” Walton said.
“This time, those who were supporting Reed obviously made sure the Republicans in the 12th Ward did not vote in the Democratic primary by giving the Republican candidate a primary opponent.”
Walton also argued that Reed had an advantage because most of the contested aldermanic races were in North St. Louis and the Central Corridor, which boosted the turnout for Reed.
“In the final analysis, though, Reed worked to win, while Shrewsbury took the race for granted,” Walton said.
“The worker won.”
Shrewsbury looked more stunned than sad as he approached the podium at the Carpenter’s Hall on Hampton Tuesday night to concede the race to Reed.
“I’ll work with Lewis over the next six weeks,” he told supporters just after 10 p.m.
The Reed celebration ran briefly on a television news show as Shrewsbury thanked his wife and staff.
“There is nothing more admirable than being in public service,” he said.
“While I’m out of office tonight, I’m not out of politics.”
