Crowded fight for Slay’s old seat could help him now
Slay
Mayor Francis Slay may not even live in the 23rd Ward anymore, but the crowded fight for his old aldermanic post there should help his chances of re-election next year.
So far, a quartet of hopefuls have signed up to run in the Democratic primary for the ward’s alderman: Car wash owner Joe Vaccaro, Lindenwood Park’s Colleen Bridges, a community college instructor, public health analyst Mary E. Homan, and Judi Roman, a veteran Democratic operative.
The incumbent, Kathleen Hanrahan, has signaled she would not seek re-election.
So how does that help Slay?
As the St. Louis American suggests this week, a lively contest ensures that a key part of Slay’s base comes out to vote on March 3 — the same day he’ll be seeking his nod for a third term.
For those who doubt such peripheral races matter in citywide contests, just ask Lewis Reed, whose underdog bid for aldermanic president last year was buyoed by a race in his home ward. His opponent, Jim Shrewsbury, had more money, but no compelling local match-ups to help motivate supporters to get to the polls.
Slay represented the 23rd Ward, a leafy south St. Louis enclave that also includes chunks of the Ellendale and Clifton Heights neighborhoods, from 1985 to 1995.
His father, Francis R. Slay, has been committeeman there for many years, and will likely have considerable say over who represents the area at City Hall.
The mayor, though, will have to watch from afar. This summer, he and wife Kim moved to a home a few miles south near Carondelet Park — which is in the 12th Ward.
Thanks for the mention!
Readers who wish to learn more about me or what’s going on at the neighborhood association meetings in the 23rd ward can visit my web site - colleenbridges-23rdward.com.
I look forward to an exciting race and to meeting many more of the neighbors who make up this wonderful ward!
Sincerely,
Colleen Bridges
Excellent post, Jake. Uncharacteristically, I agree with everything you said in this post.
Disparate turnout is especially important in low-turnout elections, like April muni elections usually are. The flip side is something that depresses turnout in a party primary, such as drawing voters from the Democratic primary to vote instead in another party’s primary (Voters can vote in only one party’s primary at a time and can’t “split” their tickets). The Reed-Shrewsbury example was a competing Republican primary in Ward 12, which was strong for Shrewsbury, but probably cost Shrewsbury 500 votes. If anti-Slay forces ever get around to recruiting a viable candidate, they might consider encouraging multiple allies in strong odd-numbered Slay wards (e.g., Wards 11, 13 and 23, and maybe even 15 and 25) to file against each other as Republicans, so that some Republicans would choose between them in their own primary instead of crossing over to the Democratic primary to vote for Slay. Of course, that would be morally wrong, and whoever heard of city politicians doing anything like that?