Former visiting government professor Jeff Smith, 32, won the Democratic primary for state senator from the 4th District in Missouri Tuesday. The 4th District covers about half of St. Louis and is considered a Democratic stronghold -- Smith will face no opposition in November's general election.
With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Smith won 36.41 percent of the votes in a five-person field, winning by a large margin. Yaphett El Amin (24.89 percent) and Derio Gambaro (22.97 percent) finished second and third, respectively.
Smith garnered national attention in 2004 when he ran for the Democratic nomination to replace retiring Rep. Dick Gephardt (D) in Missouri's Third Congressional District. Smith lost to Russ Carnahan by one percentage point -- Carnahan went on to win the general election. Smith's 2004 campaign was the subject of a recent documentary by Frank Popper, "Can Mr. Smith Get to Washington Anymore?"
Smith, who currently teaches political science at Washington University, taught courses on race and ethnicity in American politics, campaigns and elections, Congress and the American political system as well as a seminar on contemporary American politics and an introductory American politics course from Winter term 2005 through last Summer term.
Smith's campaign was assisted by several Dartmouth students who spent leave terms volunteering for the campaign. Martie Kutscher '07, Morgan Cole '07, Henry Whitehead '07 and Shen Zhao '07 spent the past winter in St. Louis; Kutscher, Cole and Whitehead returned this week to aid the get-out-the-vote effort.
According to Kutscher, the young staff was a major boost to the campaign.
"The whole campaign was run by people our age," she said. "The campaign manager just graduated from Harvard, and the volunteer coordinator is entering his senior year in college."
Smith's campaign platform focused on urban renewal, improving public education, ensuring health-care coverage for Missourians, ending discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gun control and campaign-finance reform.
The wide margin of victory came as a surprise to many election observers, who had predicted a close race.
"Jeff was locked in a very tight race with Yaphett El Amin. Many of the liberal blogs predicted Jeff's win, but it was a close race," Kutscher said. "In the end, what really distinguished our campaign was our get-out-the-vote effort. We ran around the past couple of days and hit just about every single door in the city."
An endorsement on July 31 by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch also helped Smith's effort.
Smith's connection to the College was not without controversy. In the campaign's final week, an undisclosed group made phone calls to voters that referred to Smith as a "carpetbagger." According to Kutscher, the group and other groups opposed to Smith tried to suggest that Smith wasn't from Missouri and that he had been fired from the College. Smith was born and raised in St. Louis, and left the College after his appointment as a visiting professor expired.
Without opposition in November, Smith will join the Missouri General Assembly in January 2007.
