Updated 11:55 a.m. to show that the last day to register to vote for this election is tomorrow. Also with correct spelling of attribution.
With less than a month before the special election, Tammika Hubbard remains the front-runner in the Fifth Ward Alderman race.
She has deep political ties-- brother Rodney Jr. is a former state rep and is now a lobbyist, mother Penny is currently a state rep, and father Rodney Sr. is a committeeman in the 5th Ward's Democratic Central Committee. She was selected as the Democratic nominee. She has worked for the city's Collector of Revenue. And, with special elections tending to bring less campaigning time and less voters to the booth, her party affiliation, establishment support, and name recognition may be even bigger hurdles for her two opponents, Tonya Finley and Rose Mary Green, to overcome.
Last Thursday, the extent of her status as party favorite bloomed, as a Muderer's Row of local politicos attended her fundraiser at Lavish Nightclub, according to long-time society writer Jerry Berger.
Mayor Francis Slay and Aldermanic President Lewis Reed were both there. So were State Representative Jamilah Nasheed and Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce.
But the biggest name?
Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder.
That night, which happened to be the night before he announced his plans to run for re-election rather than enter the governor's race, the Republican from Cape Girardeau tweeted, "Proud to be at fundraiser for Tammika Hubbard, Democratic nominee for #StLouis 5th Ward Alderwoman #bipartisanship #stl #MO #pdk."
At first, it's a double-take moment to see an out-state Republican who holds the second highest seat in statewide office show up at a fundraiser for a St. Louis Democrat running for Alderman in a north city ward-- particularly in today's partisan political climate.
But Kinder and Tammika Hubbard's brother Rodney go way back. When Rodney Hubbard Jr. was in the state House, he and Lt. Gov. Kinder worked together closely on various bills, like one for land assembly tax credits, one on removing elected officials from the Missouri Housing Development Commission and another to create a trust fund for Missouri military families.
It remains to be seen if Tammika Hubbard will be hurt by her brother's past troubles with the Missouri State Ethics Commission, which fined him $322,000 last December for failing to document all his campaign finances during his failed bid for re-election in 2008.
Regardless, with this kind of political backing for Hubbard, it'll take an especially tenacious ground game from Finley or Green to pull an upset.
Important if you are a 5th Ward resident: Tomorrow, Novermber 23, is the last day to register to vote for this special election.
