“The status quo won again,” St. Louis Treasurer Tishaura O. Jones said about incumbent Lewis Reed’s narrow victory over Jamilah Nasheed and Megan Ellyia Green in the Democratic primary for St. Louis aldermanic president on March 5.
The percentile vote split was Reed 36, Nasheed 32 and Green 31, according to unofficial election results. Nasheed trailed Reed by about 1,400 votes, and Green was only 144 votes behind Nasheed.
Voter turnout on a bitingly cold Tuesday with a peak temperature of 26 degrees was under 18 percent.
Reed, who has served as board president for 12 years, ran as a moderate against two more progressive candidates. He was endorsed by Mayor Lyda Krewson – who became the target of a recall effort by two aldermen who endorsed Reed just a week before the election.
“We should have a leader that cares about everyone, no matter their zip code,” Nasheed told her election watch crowd after conceding defeat. “Unfortunately, we didn’t make it. However, at the end of the day, they are still going to have to deal with Jamilah Nasheed.”
Nasheed said that the city is facing many important issues, including possibly privatizing airport operations, a statewide ballot initiative to merge St. Louis city and county, and a planned reduction of the number of city wards and seats at the Board of Aldermen. “They are going to have to deal with us,” she said as the crowd of about 50 people cheered wildly.
Nasheed and Reed went head to head during debates leading up to the election. Nasheed said Reed uses his role as board president as “an aldermanic seat on steroids” and to serve his own interests. Reed fired back that Nasheed has voted with Republicans in the state Legislature “more often than not.” He pointed to a bill that reduced unemployment benefits (Senate Bill 673 in 2014) and one that increased small loan bank fees (Senate Bill 345 in 2015).
A large majority of voters – 63 percent – voted against the incumbent, but he still won because the change vote was divided almost evenly between Nasheed and Green. Nasheed called out white progressives for supporting Green – and presumably Green for running against her and Reed.
“The progressives, everything that they hate about St. Louis, they perpetuated in this race,” Nasheed said. “You can’t say you are for Black Lives Matter and you want to reduce black representation.”
Green responded, “I’m not looking to tear another woman down on the 5th day of Women’s History Month.”
Green agreed with Nasheed that “the status quo in this city is not working” and expressed pride in “the issues-oriented, positive campaign that we ran on a shoestring budget that spoke directly to the needs of residents of our city.”
Progressives were left looking for signs of hope in the large majority vote against the incumbent.
“If you take the combined votes against Lewis versus what he won, it’s 60-plus percent,” said state Rep. Bruce Franks Jr. “We got to do a better job as common-thinking folks to come together and find a candidate and agree to disagree, but push forward on the overall consensus that we got to change.”
Community organizer Kayla Reed also found a call for change in the narrowness of Reed’s victory.
“Both Green and Jamilah did exceptionally well against a resourced incumbent. This proves St. Louis is more progressive than the status quo wants to acknowledge and that voters are eager for change,” said Reed, who leads Action STL. “I hope Lewis sees the truth in those numbers and works to usher in real change for St. Louis.”
Given the overwhelming Democratic majority in the city, Reed’s victory in the Democratic primary all but guarantees his reelection in the April municipal election.
Incumbents win aldermanic races
It was a good night for the status quo in the form of incumbents in the even-numbered wards that also had elections. All 11 incumbents running for reelection won their primaries, two of them unchallenged.
In races The American has followed, 4th Ward Alderman Samuel L. Moore, 6th Ward Alderman Christine Ingrassia, 8th Ward Alderman Annie Rice, 20th Ward Alderman Cara Spencer and 22nd Ward Alderman Jeffrey Boyd all survived primary challenges.
However, not all of these incumbents represent the status quo in the same sense as Reed, who was endorsed by Mayor Krewson and drew challenges from the left. Ingrassia, Rice and Spencer have been consistently progressive voices on the board, with some exceptions.
Jesse Todd won the 18th Ward seat left open by Terry Kennedy’s retirement; Todd is the Ward’s longtime Democratic committeeman. Shameem Clark Hubbard won the 26th Ward seat that incumbent Frank Williamson did not defend. Bret Narayan won a crowded five-way race with a majority of votes in the 24th Ward, where incumbent Scott Ogilvie did not seek reelection.
The number and zest of the primary challenges and open seats earned the 2019 municipal primary the nickname “aldergeddon.”
