This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, March 3, 2009 - St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay glided to victory in Tuesday’s Democratic primary, placing himself in a strong position for next month’s quest to become only the fourth mayor in the city’s history to win a third term.
Slay snagged close to 62 percent of Tuesday’s low-turnout vote, handily overwhelming his two Democratic opponents: Irene Smith, a former city judge and alderman, and Denise Watson-Wesley Coleman, a local lawyer.
Smith received about 32 percent , compared to less than 7 percent for Coleman.
Slay now faces three new challengers in the April 7 general election: Libertarian Robb Cunningham, Green Party nominee Elston McCowan and former state Senate Minority Leader Maida Coleman, who dropped her Democratic allegiance to mount an independent bid against Slay.
Percentage-wise, Slay’s primary tally was almost identical to the record-setting finish of the last three-term mayor, Vincent C. Schoemehl Jr., in his third-term primary in 1989.
Slay said he was thrilled by his victory. He credited his campaign staff and his message that focused on “what city government has been doing to help people.’’
Slay spent more than $1 million on his campaign, about 100 times the budget of Smith. Slay’s TV ads and his campaign materials emphasized his administration’s work to bolster downtown redevelopment, clean up neighborhoods, attack lead poisoning, and reduce homelessness.
Slay said he was proud of his campaign pitch, and planned to use the same approach for April – although he said it was too early to say if he will run TV spots. “We’re going to work every bit as hard,’’ Slay said. “I don’t take this job for granted. I don’t take the city for granted.”
Smith, who plans to now endorse Maida Coleman, argued that Slay didn’t get many votes “considering the amount of money he spent.”
She said she wouldn’t be “hypocritical” and congratulate Slay because “I don’t think he should be mayor. He didn’t run a good race and he didn’t engage in dialogue on the issues.” She also said the media didn’t do enough reporting on the issues and didn’t push for a “vigorous debate” on the issues.
Still, Smith said she wished she had had more resources to do more canvassing. “We didn’t do as much door-to-door campaigning as we should have, and people didn’t hear my message,” Smith said. “The turnout also made a difference. I was really surprised by the very low turnout even in wards like the 23rd (Slay’s former ward) and the 25th.”
Slay also was concerned by Tuesday’s low citywide turnout of 14.3 percent, or less than 32,000 votes. “For me, you always like to see big turnouts and see more people engaged,’’ the mayor said.
Campaign manager Jeff Rainford, who is on leave as the mayor’s chief of staff, attributed the turnout to voter complacency and a public perception that he had no serious challengers.
There also was the general lack of city contests. The only other citywide candidate -- Comptroller Darlene Green, a fellow Democrat -- had no opponent in her primary bid for a record fourth term. Green has no opponents in April, so she’s guaranteed that record.
In addition, only a handful of aldermanic seats on Tuesday’s ballot were contested.
The largest crowd of Democratic candidates – seven -- were competing in the 23rd Ward, where car wash owner Joseph Vaccaro captured just under 49 percent of the vote. It was his fourth bid for the open aldermanic seat. Incumbent Kathleen Hanrahan is retiring. Vaccaro faces no other challengers in April, so he will automatically win election.
The biggest aldermanic race to some turned out to be the fight in the 21st Ward, where incumbent Bennice Jones King lost to Antonio French. French garnered just under 62 percent of the vote, and said he won because ward residents wanted change.
French said the ward has some “great housing stock” and that one big goal would be to work to shore up vacant property.
In the 25th Ward, another big winner was Shane Cohn, who was the victor in a four-way contest for the open seat. Incumbent 25th Ward alderman Dorothy Kirner is retiring. Because only Democrats have filed for the seat, Cohn will automatically win it in April.
