State Rep. Talibdin El-Amin today announced the support of U.S. Rep. Lacy Clay and Alderman Frank Willamson.
Incumbent state legislators usually don’t take the time to shore up endorsements - that’s because, unless they are afflicted by scandal or are seen as particularly vulnerable, they usually don’t have to worry about a challenger, at least from their own party.
But St. Louis politics is generous about allowing room for the unusual.
In El-Amin’s case, he is facing a re-match from 2006, when he defeated 26th Ward committeeman Joe Palm by a sizable margin in the Democratic primary.
It should come as no surprise that Clay is backing El-Amin - in the fall, the congressman issued an earlier endorsement to State Senate hopeful Rodney Hubbard, one of El-Amin’s closest political allies.
The endorsement from Williamson - also from the 26th Ward, having been the hand-picked successor of Irv Clay, the congressman’s uncle - is no doubt meant to signal that Palm’s own ward is coming out for the opposition.
El-Amin