By Antonio D. French
Filed Tuesday, June 26, 2007 at 8:13 PM
Gov. Matt Blunt today called for a special election to fill the vacancy in the 23rd Senate District. The special election will be held on Sept. 4, 2007. Labels: Governor, Rumors, State_Senate
Republican Sen. Chuck Gross resigned from the Missouri State Senate effective May 31, creating an open Senate seat in the 23rd Senate District.
Candidates must be selected by party committeepeople and filed with the Secretary of State's Office no later than 5:00 p.m. on July 31.
There remains speculation that the special election provides opportunity for soon-to-be-term-limited St. Louis Democrat Maida Coleman to also leave the Senate early and accept a gubernatorial appointment.
Coleman's seat is currently the target of three announced candidates (State Reps. Rodney Hubbard, Tom Villa, and Robin Wright-Jones).
It is said that Blunt might give Coleman an early appointment to pave the way for Hubbard, a St. Louis Democrat with strong relationships with the state's Republican leadership.
Coleman has denied any rumors of plans for an early exit.
6 Comments:
Senator Maida Coleman will not take an appointment early because it would not make sense.
If Senator Coleman vacated her seat then the Democratic nominee would be decided by the committeepeople.
If the committeepeople of that Senatorial District voted for a Democratic nominee for Senator then Representative Tom Villa would win hands down! He would therefore garner all the monetary contributions and State Democratic machine to his advantage.
This would not fair well for the other candidates looking to run for Senate.
6/27/2007 12:28 AM
Why would the governor do this for Coleman. Too much risk. After all Coleman had made it clear she cannot work with the govenor or any republican for that matter.
6/27/2007 12:32 AM
^ "If the committeepeople of that Senatorial District voted for a Democratic nominee for Senator then Representative Tom Villa would win hands down!"
Don't be so sure of that. Top Democrats around the state are greatly concerned about the revolt that would occur if the City of St. Louis ends up with no African-American representation in the Senate.
A private vote of committee-people is a much more controlled environment for deal-making than a public election. Look for party officials and citywide elected officials to step in in that situation.
6/27/2007 12:49 AM
Who are the white politicians in St. Louis who "might as well be republicans"---and who are the black politicians who "might as well be republicans"?
I do not know. I could accept zero in both cases as a possible answer.
6/27/2007 2:26 PM
You might finally be wrong on this one Antonio. Whomever gets the most votes wins in politics, not whomever will balance things out racially. Politics is not for soft-hearted people that love what is good for all citizens, those days are over.
Politics is DOG EAT DOG, and Tom Villa is a BIG DOG that can't eat some other DOGS. Some people are taking him for granted as though he has been playing "TIDDLYWINKS" in Jefferson City as a State Representative, and he has the most experience and name recognition hands down with the population that is capable of turning out the vote.
The main point to remember is that if we are talking about racial balance then some white people believe that the election of Lewis Reed to President of the Board of Alderman is worth exchanging another WHITE STATE SENATOR. Not to mention that some white people are embarrassed and mad as hell that Lewis Reed beat Jim Shrewsbury and are ready to show "THE MIGHTY WHITE VOTING POWER!" LOOK FOR THE "MIGHTY WHITE" IN 08', even if the committeepeople vote for an African-American Democratic State Senate nominee. 2008 is going to be a hell of a political fighting year for politicians and blog sites, get ready Antonio, GET FRICKIN READY!
Will PubDef establish complete dominance over the Arch City Chronicle and St. Louis Post Dispatch during the 2008? PubDef has already made the Arch City Chronicle fold in print with a much smaller staff, and now PubDef may exercise their killer instinct by ending the existence of the Arch City Chronicle in 2008! FIGHTS ALL OVER THE FRICKIN PLACE!!!!!
6/27/2007 11:03 PM
Hmmmmm! This is all very interesting. I'm a southsider and like Tom Villa because he listens to his constituency. Who exactly on the northside listens to their constituency? Just a curious question!
6/29/2007 3:55 PM
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