This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Dec. 30, 2011 - State Rep. Jamilah Nasheed, D-St. Louis, plans to announce next Tuesday what office she plans to seek in 2012. Will she seek re-election? Or will she make a bid for the 5th District state Senate seat, possibly challenging fellow Democrat who is the incumbent, Sen. Robin Wright Jones?
The political bets have Nasheed making the Senate plunge because:
-- Jones has run into campaign-finance troubles;
-- Redistricting tossed Nasheed into the same House district with two other legislators, fellow Democrats Chris Carter and Karla May.
But another Democratic House member from St. Louis, outgoing Rep. Jeanette Mott Oxford, has confirmed she also is considering a run for the 5th District post. Oxford cannot run for re-election to the state House because she is completing her final term under the state's term limits.
Said Oxford in an email late Thursday: "Many people have asked me to run for Senate over the years, and I never thought that was what I would do next for a variety of reasons. However, a request that I received in mid-December touched my heart in a way that led me to say I'd give it some consideration. I will make a decision by late January."
Nasheed could decide to move into another state House district, since several city districts are to become vacant, because of term limits and because a number of legislators were thrown into the same districts by the judicial panel drawing up the boundaries.
As for Jones, in her last comment to the Beacon, she emphasized that she did plan to run for re-election in 2012.
If so, the only question is whether she will have Democratic rivals -- and how many.
