Incumbent Mayor Francis Slay won the Democratic nomination for the right to sit in Room 200 last Tuesday, defeating Lewis Reed, president of the city Board of Aldermen, by 10 percentage points (54 percent to 44 percent).
Slay will almost certainly win an unprecedented fourth term as mayor when he takes on Green Party candidate James McNeely on April 2, but there is still plenty of room for thoughts on the city’s political future and the aftermath of the primary race.
Congressman William Lacy Clay’s endorsement of Slay didn’t pay off in many north side votes, according to the St. Louis American. But my guess is that he didn’t intend it to. No, his support for Slay was a warning to any black politician who dares to cross him, endorse anyone who challenges him, or run against him. Clay admitted in the Post-Dispatch that he would not have taken a stance in the mayor’s race if Reed had not endorsed Russ Carnahan in the Democratic primary last August. Take note, Antonio French.
Speaking of French, can I get a copyright on “French for Congress 2014"? I think we’ll be seeing those yard signs in about two years. He could make a real run at Clay for the First Congressional District seat. French won re-election with ease and his ward had as solid a turnout as anywhere else in the city.
Overall, turnout, if that’s what you want to call it, was about 22 percent. When elected officials say the region should have more respect for the city and its residents, it’s difficult to listen, because obviously the majority of eligible voters don’t care too much about who the city’s leader is.
State Sen. Jamilah Nasheed might have worn out her welcome in her district. Look forward to her trying to find ways to distance herself from Mayor Slay, whom she endorsed in the primary. Slay had backed her last August, and she returned the favor. But she went too far with a whacked-out social media post last Tuesday that embarrassed herself and city voters.
It might come earlier, but the splendid relationship that Slay claimed to have with black St. Louis during the campaign will certainly become contentious when the police force becomes a division of the city’s Department of Public Safety in July. Trust me, it will be a racially tinged mess the first time there is a questionable police shooting or in-house investigation of police conduct.
Once again, Republicans dropped the ball and failed to field a candidate for mayor. Mayor Slay’s strongholds in the city’s south and southwest neighborhoods are also the home for most of its GOP voters. If a Republican candidate could get some of those votes and then convince a skeptical north side that he or she would be much fairer and inclusive than Slay & Co., there could be a chance at an upset. I’d be willing to wager the Republican candidate would come closer to Slay in the general election this year than Reed came to Slay in the primary.
Whom will St. Louis’ next mayor be, should Slay not seek a fifth term in 2017? My leading candidates are Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce, Treasurer Tishaura Jones, Alderman French (if he isn’t in Congress), and Alderman Shane Cohn.
Commentary by Alvin Reid
