Michael Gras
Michael Gras was a member of the St. Louis Board of Aldermen in Missouri, representing Ward 28. Gras assumed office on April 29, 2022. Gras left office on April 18, 2023.
Gras ran for re-election to the St. Louis Board of Aldermen to represent Ward 9 in Missouri. Gras lost in the primary on March 7, 2023.
2023 battleground election
The city of St. Louis, Missouri, held general elections for the Board of Aldermen on April 4, 2023. All 14 seats on the board and the seat of the president of the board were up for election. Eleven incumbents, including Board President Megan Ellyia Green, won re-election. Three incumbents were defeated.
The 2023 election was the first to take place under a new ward system that reduced the number of seats on the board from 28 to 14. Voters approved Proposition R, a charter amendment requiring the size reduction, in 2012, and the board enacted a new 14-ward map in 2021.[1]
Ahead of the election, KDSK’s Sam Clancy and Mark Maxwell wrote, “For more than a century, 28 members of the Board of Aldermen governed the City of St. Louis. Those days are almost over.”
“Ward reduction changes have been in the making for more than a decade after voters approved the plan back in 2012. "Aldergeddon" has already claimed casualties. A handful of incumbents opted not to seek re-election, shying away from a sharp-elbowed brawl against their colleagues to prolong their political career and others were defeated in the primary,” Clancy and Maxwell said. [2]
As a result of the reduction in board size, ten incumbents did not seek re-election in 2023.[3] Additionally, two wards—Ward 13 and Ward 4—featured incumbent vs. incumbent races.
The three incumbents who lost were:
- Joe Vaccaro (the incumbent in Ward 23): Vaccaro lost to fellow incumbent Bret Narayan (Ward 24) 55% to 45% in the election for the new Ward 4.
- Norma Walker (Ward 22): Walker lost to incumbent Pamela Boyd (Ward 27) 54% to 46% in the election for the new Ward 13.
- Tina Pihl (Ward 9): Pihl lost to Washington University staffer Michael Browning 63% to 36% in the election for the new Ward 9.
Per Proposition R, candidates elected in odd-numbered wards in 2023 would serve an initial two-year term and be eligible to run for four-year terms after that. Candidates elected in even-numbered wards would serve four-year terms. The president of the Board of Aldermen, a separate position elected at large, would also serve a four-year term.[4][1]
Another initiative affecting the 2023 election, Proposition D, was approved by voters in 2020. The measure made elections open and nonpartisan for the offices of mayor, comptroller, president of the Board of Aldermen, and the Board of Aldermen. The measure also changed the primary election system from plurality voting to approval voting, a voting system in which voters may vote for any number of candidates they choose. Nonpartisan primaries were held on March 7, 2023, and the top two candidates in each primary advanced to a general election.
The Board of Aldermen is St. Louis' equivalent of a city council. It's the city’s primary legislative body, responsible for adopting the city budget, levying taxes, and making or amending city laws, policies, and ordinances. The President of the Board is responsible for presiding over board meetings.
St. Louis also held a nonpartisan general election for a seat on the community college board on April 4, 2023. Nicole Robinson defeated Incumbent Pam Ross in that election. The filing deadline for that election was Dec. 27, 2022.
Elections
2023
General election
General election for St. Louis Board of Aldermen Ward 9
Michael Browning defeated incumbent Tina Pihl in the general election for St. Louis Board of Aldermen Ward 9 on April 4, 2023.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Michael Browning (Nonpartisan)  | 63.0 | 1,773 |
 | Tina Pihl (Nonpartisan) | 36.5 | 1,027 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.5 | 13 | ||
| Total votes: 2,813 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Nonpartisan primary election
| St. Louis uses approval voting, where voters may cast ballots for any number of candidates. A candidate's Approval Percentage is the number of votes cast for the candidate as a percentage of all votes cast. Under this system, the two candidates who receive the most votes advance to the general election. | |||
| Candidate | % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
Michael Browning (Nonpartisan) | 49.75% | 1,007 |
| |
Tina Pihl (Nonpartisan) | 43.28% | 876 |
| Michael Gras (Nonpartisan) | 42.89% | 868 | |
| Incumbents are bolded and underlined. | Total votes: | 2,751 | |
| Source: St. Louis certified primary results, 2023 The results have been certified. | |||
2022
See also: City elections in St. Louis, Missouri (2022)
General election
Special general election for St. Louis Board of Aldermen Ward 28
Michael Gras defeated Taunia Allen Mason in the special general election for St. Louis Board of Aldermen Ward 28 on April 19, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Michael Gras (D) | 77.4 | 818 | |
| Taunia Allen Mason (R) | 22.2 | 235 | ||
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.4 | 4 | ||
| Total votes: 1,057 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Note: On February 28, 2022, the city's election board voted to include on the ballot the partisan affiliation of the candidates running in the special election. In 2020, city voters voted to change city elections from partisan to nonpartisan.[5]
Campaign themes
2023
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Michael Gras did not complete Ballotpedia's 2023 Candidate Connection survey.
2022
Michael Gras did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
See also
2023 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 St. Louis-Mo Gov, "Redistricting FAQ," accessed February 5, 2022
- ↑ ‘’KDSK,’’ “This is who won the races for St. Louis' new, consolidated board of aldermen,” April 4, 2023
- ↑ The St. Louis Board of Aldermen will look much different after spring elections, "St. Louis NPR," January 6, 2023
- ↑ St. Louis-Mo Gov, "City of St. Louis Redistricting 2021," accessed February 5, 2022
- ↑ St. Louis Post-Dispatch, "Party designations to be on St. Louis special election ballot after all," February 28, 2022
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by Heather B. Navarro |
St. Louis Board of Aldermen Ward 28 2022-2023 |
Succeeded by - |
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