In the coming weeks, The American will be making endorsements in a larger than usual number of primary elections because so many important seats are being contested, and in so many of those elections the candidate who best represents the interests of the African-American community is a clear choice. Whether or not one is willing or able to take partisan stands, we strongly urge all leaders in our community to stand up and reach out to everyone they know and encourage them to cast a ballot on August 7.
Barack Obama will be the Democratic nominee for U.S. President, but his friend and ally in the U.S. Congress, U.S. Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay, has a serious primary opponent who has been attacking the incumbent with negative campaign releases for a month already. Voters in the 1st Congressional District need to cast a vote in this election on August 7.
Governor Jay Nixon will be the Democratic nominee for Missouri Governor, but the incumbent Republican Lieutenant Governor, Peter Kinder, is rebounding from a personal scandal and can be beaten in November. We have a low opinion of the presumed frontrunner in the Democratic primary for Lieutenant Governor, but fortunately there are other compelling choices for this important statewide position. We will have a strong endorsement in this race.
St. Louis city voters send two State Senators to the Missouri Legislature, and one of those seats will be contested on August 7. We have reasons to support – and reject – all three candidates, but we will be choosing one of them and think it is very important that voters in the 5th Senatorial District cast a ballot in this race. There is a strong African-American candidate running for an open State Senate seat in North County as well, the 13th Senatorial District. There also are many contested State Representative seats, city and county, that deserve the attention of voters in those districts, and we will be endorsing in many of them.
The three most important seats in city government – Mayor, Aldermanic President and Comptroller – are not on the August 7 ballot, but two important citywide seats with a very strong African American candidate are on this ballot: Treasurer and Sheriff. These officials play key roles, respectively, in city finances and parking, and in the custody chain and service of warrants for city crimes. Africans Americans in the city should care dearly how the city invests its revenue and who is responsible for serving warrants and transporting prisoners. These positions will be decided on August 7.
It simply can not be emphasized enough – in most races in the City of St. Louis, the winner of the Democratic primary is the winner of the seat. The 1st Congressional District, 5th Senatorial District, Treasurer and Sheriff absolutely will be elected on August 7, so anyone who waits until the General Election in November will have waited too long to cast a meaningful vote. Now is the time for everyone who cares about this community to go to your social networks, physical and digital, and tell everyone you know to contact their election authority and get prepared to vote on August 7. At a time when enormous amounts of Republican money and resources are being devoted to disenfranchising our community through Voter I.D. laws and other voter suppression tactics, the best way to fight back is to exercise our right to vote. And November will be too late in many of these elections – the time to vote is now.
St. Louis city election board: 314-622-4336; stlelections.com/; St. Louis county election board: 314-615-1800; www.stlouisco.com/yourgovernment/Elections.
