Smith support big in part of district where he ran in 2004

By Tom Weber, KWMU

St. Louis, MO – New numbers from the St. Louis Election Board show Jeff Smith won Tuesday's race for state Senate by winning seven of the 18 wards that are in the 4th district.

His support was especially big in the part of the 4th district that overlaps the 3rd Congressional district. Smith ran for that seat in Congress two years ago.

The numbers also show that almost almost 1,000 more people voted in the seven wards Smith won than in the eight wards Yaphett El-Amin won. She finished second.

Smith won in wards 8, 12, 14, 15, 23, 24, 28, which are in south city or the central corridor. All of those wards, except the 28th, are also mostly within the boundaries of the Third Congressional District. In 2004, he had the most votes in the City of the ten candidates for Congress.

El-Amin, meanwhile, won wards 1, 4, 17, 18, 19, 22, 26, and 27, which are in north city and the central corridor. Former state representative Derio Gambaro won his home 10th ward, as well as the 16th, which includes St. Louis Hills. State Representative Amber Boykins won the 21st ward, which includes part of her current state House district. Boykins and El-Amin both live in the First Ward; El-Amin bested Boykins there by more than 400 votes.

Kenny Jones did best in his home 22nd ward, but still lagged El-Amin and Boykins there.

A further look at the numbers shows just how much space Smith was able to put between El-Amin and him in the wards he won. It was Gambaro, not El-Amin, who finished second in six of the seven wards Smith won. In the 23rd ward, Smith garnered 1,008 votes, while El-Amin only picked up 37. Even in the two wards where Gambaro won, voters overwhelminly prefered Smith to El-Amin.