Filling Still Open For March 7, 2017 Partisan Primary
On Fridays I usually post new board bills introduced at the St. Louis Board of Aldermen, but as I mentioned last week, they’re on their winter break now. Full board meetings will resume on January 6, 2017. That’s also the day filing closes for candidates seeking to be on a partisan ballot on the March 7, 2017 primary. Filing began last mont on the 28th.
As of yesterday, there are 32 candidates who have filed to run for various offices — all Democrats. It’s asinine for St. Louis to hold a primary to select partisan candidates and a month later to hold a general election so the primary winner can run unopposed or minimally challenged by a marginal Green, Republican, or independent — welcome to St. Louis.
Anyway, though we may see a few more candidates file and/or existing candidates drop out of the race, the March primary is pretty much set.
Seven current candidates seeking the Democratic nomination for mayor, in ballet order:
- Antonio French
- Lewis Reed
- Jeffrey L. Boyd
- Tishaura O. Jones
- Lyda Krewson
- William (Bill) Haas
- Jimmie Matthews
Once again, Darlene Green is currently unopposed for the job of Comptroller.
The odd-numbered wards are up for re-election and it looks like there will be some changes.
- Ward 1 — Only one candidate has filed so far, not incumbent Tyus.
- Ward 3 — looks like an open seat, three candidates have filed and none are incumbent Freeman Bosley Sr!
- Ward 5 — Incumbent Tammika Hubbard, whose parents lost recent revotes, hasn’t filed to run for another term. Thankfully, she won’t likely run again. There are 3 candidates so far, but more are possible.
- Ward 7 — Incumbent Coatar unopposed so far.
- Ward 9 — Incumbent Ortman has one challenger so far.
- Ward 11 — Incumbent Villa has one challenger so far.
- Ward 13 — Incumbent Murphy unopposed so far.
- Ward 15 — This will be an interesting race as former Ald Florida attempts to unseat incumbent Green.
- Ward 17 — Incumbent Roddy unopposed so far.
- Ward 19 — Incumbent Davis has one challenger so far.
- Ward 21 — Since Ald French is in the race for mayor this is an open seat, 3 candidates have filed so far.
- Ward 23 — Incumbent Vaccaro unopposed so far.
- Ward 25 — Incumbent Cohn unopposed so far.
- Ward 27 — Only one candidate has filed so far, not incumbent Carter.
The sevens wards in bold (3,5,9,11,15, & 19) are ones I’ll be watching, plus others, if more candidates file in the next two weeks.
— Steve Patterson