The general election in November will present an oddity for Democrats. The ballot will show that the Democratic nominee for St. Louis County Prosecutor, a position held for more than 25 years by the same man, will be unopposed by a Republican candidate. Usually, it is the other way around lately. So the real election for St. Louis County Prosecutor will take place on August 7th, at the primary.
The candidates for the Democratic nomination for this seat are incumbent Robert McCullough and aspirant Wesley Bell. The fact this election is a primary in which voter turnout is typically low McCullough has the easier road to re-election — name recognition alone, either positive of negative, likely will help voters with a last minute decision about a race not as visible or as prominent as most others. But voters shouldn’t leave it at that. The race deserves much more attention than it is getting
Bell spoke at a house party recently hosted by a Chesterfield citizen and attended by perhaps twenty keenly interested voters. The candidate was charming and engaging, obviously comfortable in campaign mode. He spoke at length about his idea of reorganizing crime deterrence efforts to make St. Louis County a safer place to live. But, he took his thoughts further but saying that what we can do to help people who have substance abuse problems which may contribute to recidivism was important too. “We can’t prosecute our way out of our problems. We have to help people with theirs too.”
Bell noted that while he has been working tirelessly attending events like this one in Chesterfield and at Township Meetings or in Union Halls with unions members, he has a lot of work to do in the remaining 3 or 4 weeks before the primary. He would welcome a debate, for example, with Prosecutor McCullough, but is leery. At two events scheduled earlier in the year, the prosecutor failed to show.
So, check out this race for St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney which will be decided in the August 7th primary NOT the November 6th general election, though formalities of the election do dictate some protocol the winner won’t take office any earlier, for example. To learn more about the candidates click on their photos in this article.
— Mark Kumming, WCD member
- Update: This article has been amended to include the correct website for Bob McCulloch which was not available when the original article was written. Clicking on his photograph will open his campaign website now.