Exciting news out of St. Louis last night where Kimberly Gardner, a registered nurse and former state representative, beat three candidates in the Democratic primary for city circuit attorney. Gardner walked away with almost 47 percent of the vote—nearly double the votes that her nearest competitor received.
Gardner is almost guaranteed to win in the general, as no Republican or Libertarian candidate has entered the race. If she wins, she will be the first black head prosecutor in St. Louis.
Her victory came almost two years to the day after Mike Brown was killed by a police officer in St. Louis County. While the circuit attorney’s office didn't prosecute that case (Bob McCulloch, the county's prosecuting attorney, did), the response to Brown's death highlighted problems that plagued the city attorney’s office as well.
Gardner faced tough odds in the race, including two opponents that are currently prosecutors in the circuit attorney’s office. There was no incumbent—current Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce decided last year not to run again after four terms—and prosecutor races are notoriously low-information. Gardner also had to run against two officers currently in Joyce's office (including Joyce's handpicked successor, Mary Pat Carl) as well as a former police officer.
None of the candidates were perfect: All four expressed support for the death penalty, for example. But Gardner certainly seemed to understand the discontent among many in St. Louis, especially among people of color.
From St. Louis Today:
Gardner’s biggest priority is “building public trust” in the criminal justice system.
“Some will say witnesses are afraid just of the criminal element and that’s why they’re not coming forward, but many are also afraid of the whole criminal justice system,” Gardner said. “I want to be that unifying force to build trust so we can prosecute the most serious (cases) but at the same time prevent people from becoming victims, prevent people from becoming the most serious criminals.”
She says she would push the Legislature for tougher gun laws, increase diversity within the circuit attorney’s office by hiring more minority prosecutors and pursue a policy of using special prosecutors to review killings by police.
“The problem is that the community is saying, ‘How can you investigate yourself?” she said. “The prosecutor’s office and the city police work together on a day-in, day-out basis, and I think to make the process fair, you need to have some independent investigation and prosecutor in place.”
Gardner received about $67,000 in donations from Soros Safety and Justice committee, a PAC founded by George Soros, a portion of which was spent on television ads. While the money was significant in a race like this one, she still raised less than Carl, who had a total of $145,000 cash on hand as of mid-July.
Joe Steiger, president of the police union, called the donation "insulting," saying “It’s more important for people to realize that calling for ‘black lives matter’ and ‘blue lives matter’ is not an opposite proposition."
Gardner advocated for systemic reform more than any other candidate. Her victory in an election with no incumbent is a new kind of win in prosecutor elections: A referendum on bad policy, and not just a problematic elected official.