State Senator Jamilah Nasheed (D-St. Louis) is not on the March 7 ballot for St. Louis mayor, though she considered making a run before deciding to endorse Tishaura O. Jones instead. Exactly one month before the election, The American spoke with Nasheed by phone from the state capitol about how her candidate’s campaign is shaping up.
The American: There’s one month left before the primary election. What are you seeing?
Jamilah Nasheed: I am seeing that voters in the city are really sophisticated in terms of what they will do on election day, especially African-American voters. I truly believe they are going to get behind one candidate, and I believe that candidate will be Tishaura Jones.
The American: What do you see that makes you think that?
Nasheed: Tishaura has been canvassing all throughout the city, connecting with voters both North and South. People understand that we need a progressive leader, and Tishaura is that progressive candidate.
The American: Have you done any canvassing for her?
Nasheed: I haven’t been canvassing, but I did put up signs, made calls, spent $12,000 on black radio and I’m doing a lot of social media.
The American: What is her radio strategy?
Nasheed: You have to be able to hit all segments of the population with radio, mailers, door-knocking. You have to have connectability and constantly see Tishaura’s name out there.
Unfortunately, it’s really sad, but we have an individual in the race with only $200 and ego driving him to stay in. A lot of our constituents fear that will split the progressive vote, but I don’t want people to believe that with Antonio in the race we have to split the vote. We can support one vibrant, progressive candidate, and that’s Tishaura Jones.
The American: You and Antonio French were once close. I understand your relationship has evolved over the years, but why did you take Tishaura over Antonio?
Nasheed: I think Tishaura is well-equipped to do the job. She has all skills and know-how to run the city. She looks outside the city and state for best practices. We need a leader who understands we need to go outside the city to find best practices, then come back and implement them. She is an African-American female, and I would love to have an African-American female mayor. She has the best platform. Look at her plan. If she is given the opportunity to implement her plan, this city will be very progressive.
The American: What aspects of her plan appeal to you?
Nasheed: Her emphasis on early childhood education, putting social-service providers inside the police department, having youth job opportunities year-round, putting abandoned buildings back on the tax rolls to get more revenue, this issue of a tale of two cities with north of Delmar decaying while south of Delmar is thriving. She understands that as goes North St. Louis, so goes the state of Missouri, and she has a plan to get it done.
The American: How do you assess her campaign in terms of organization?
Nasheed: Their ground game is great. They could step up their phone-banking, and they have; I talked to them about that, and they pumped it up. They have a lot of volunteers. I’ve never had that type of volunteers, the crossover type. She has crossover appeal. She has a lot of white supporters, young and progressive, and that’s what will take her over the top.
The American: Why are they with her?
Nasheed: They say the same thing, that they like her platform. She has always been progressive, into women’s issues and the right to choose. Look at her endorsements: She has NARAL and the most progressive unions, the Service Employees International Union and the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists.
The American: Have you attended the debates? How do you think she did?
Nasheed: At the first debate at Harris-Stowe, her connectability was not there, she was off a little bit. The second at SLU, she kicked butt, she performed very well and connected with the crowd. The Channel 5 one I didn’t see, though I heard she got a little flustered. This is the first mayoral race where we’ve ever seen so many debates. People are engaged, the crowds are there, people are more active now than before Trump was elected. There is a paradigm shift. I think we will see heavy turnout. Last mayoral primary, we had 44,000 voters. This time I think we will have 50,000, and Tishaura will take it by a small margin.
The American: What advice do you have for her?
Nasheed: Stay focused, keep knocking those doors, keep the campaign on the ground level, hopefully get some TV going, keep making phone calls, doing mailers, stay connected with people and get people excited about going out to the polls. Now it’s going to be about who gets their people to the polls.
The primary election is March 7. Absentee voting is underway.
