State Sen. Jamilah Nasheed announced today that she is running for president of the Board of Aldermen in the March 2019 election to unseat incumbent Lewis Reed.
Alderwoman Megan Green of the 15th Ward announced her campaign last month.
“For over a decade, I’ve served St. Louis at the state capitol,” Nasheed stated in a Jan. 25 email announcing her campaign. “I’m proud of my work giving a voice to the voiceless on issues like civil rights, women’s health and a living wage, fighting to improve our schools and stop crime, all the while bringing millions of dollars back home to serve our communities.
I love our city. And I know we can make it better. We have so much to be proud of in St. Louis, but also so much work left to do. We need a change. And I’ve decided to make that change happen as our city’s next President of the Board of Aldermen.”
Nasheed, a Democrat representing Missouri’s 5th Senatorial District, said that she will work on bridging the Delmar Divide, gun violence and lack of opportunity.
“For years, St. Louis has lived a tale of two cities,” she stated. “Some communities have seen growth and development, but so many have just been left behind.”
Nasheed has recently held town hall meetings to address the issue of abandoned buildings in North St. Louis city.
At 19, Nasheed opened Sankofa Books and Gifts, an inner-city bookstore, with the mission of promoting reading and meaningful discussion, she said. After 10 years as a small business owner, she sold her bookstore and decided to run for office. In 2006, she was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives.
During her time in the Missouri House, Nasheed was the only minority party committee chairperson serving as Chairwoman of the House Urban Affairs Committee.
Nasheed began serving in the State Senate in January 2013. She touts working to pass two landmark pieces of legislation. SB 532 allows a relative-caregiver the right to make medical and educational decisions for a minor in their custody. Senate Bill 731 helps preserve St. Louis neighborhoods by expanding the definition of “nuisance” to include absentee landlords who allow vacant properties to harm the value of neighboring properties.
She also passed a bill in 2015 that gave Harris-Stowe State University the authority to offer graduate degrees for the first time in its 150-year history.
A St. Louis native, Nasheed was raised by her grandmother, Evelyn Williams. She has been married to her high school sweetheart, Fahim, for 17 years. She currently lives in the city’s Gaslight Square neighborhood with her 16-year-old cousin, Najawah, for whom she is a longtime caretaker.
Reed was elected as board president in April 2007, becoming the first African American to hold the position.
Reed said of Nasheed’s campaign, “Considering the fact that the soon to be termed out State Senator Nasheed was a hard-core supporter of and contributed money to former Mayor Francis Slay when I ran against him in 2013, along with her voting record and the fact that she insulted North St. Louis residents when she told a group it was their own fault that Francis Slay didn’t invest in their community, I believe voters will easily see through her announcement statement as empty rhetoric and know that her true motives are not what’s good for the community, but only what’s good for her own personal benefit.”
Green and Nasheed worked side-by-side during City Treasurer Tishaura Jones’ 2017 campaign for mayor, which Reed also ran for and placed third in.
Green said, “I welcome Senator Nasheed to the race. We will continue our campaign of returning the power to the people. We are the only grassroots-funded campaign in the race. Others may rely on big donors and lobbyists, but we have the only people-centered campaign.”
