Megan Green

Megan Ellyia Green

In November 2022, Green won the special election to replace President of the Board of Aldermen Lewis Reed, who resigned after being indicted on federal bribery charges. The first woman to serve as Board President, Green was re-elected to a full four-year term in April 2023.

Early life and career Green was born in Oneonta, New York in 1983. Her father is a philosophy professor at SUNY Oneonta and her mother is a public school English teacher. She became politically active as a student at Penn State, participating in John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign and fundraising for the Democratic National Committee in Chicago. In 2005, she became a Coro Fellow and re-located to Tower Grove South in St. Louis. She was sworn in on October 17, 2014. The special election had been called after the previous alderwoman, Jennifer Florida, resigned to become the city's Recorder of Deeds. Her primary opponent criticized her involvement in the Ferguson protests. Green defeated Florida by over 30% and won the general unopposed.

In 2021, Green won a re-match against Jennifer Florida in a nonpartisan election using approval voting. In June 2022, she was the chair of the Education and Youth Matters Committee and also sat on the Health and Human Services and Convention, Tourism, Arts, and Humanities committees. In November 2022, Green vacated her 15th ward seat upon being elected President of the Board of Aldermen.

Bribery allegations Green alleged in 2015 that a "loved one" had been offered a political bribe in return for Green "dialing down" her opposition to a proposed football stadium. She went on to criticize the Board of Aldermen's "quid pro quo mentality" and said that "the deal cutting, bribery... at City Hall will never cease to amaze me." Green later apologized to Alderman Sam Moore after implying that he had accepted bribes in exchange for his vote on the planned stadium. St. Louis Public Radio reported that Green's allegations "seemed to irritate" her fellow board members and an investigation by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the FBI determined that her claims had "no substance."

Reed radio show appearance On January 11, 2016, Board President Lewis Reed was a guest on a radio show hosted by Bob Romanik. During the episode, Romanik called Green a "skanky bitch", "alderbitch", and "skanky-ass bitch". Reed laughed at these remarks and went on to criticize Green himself. His appearance on Romanik's show received considerable backlash and was condemned by then-Mayor Francis Slay. Reed later called Romanik's comments "out of line" and claimed that his laughter was due to shock. On February 11, Green released a statement asking Reed to apologize.

Flip the Board campaign In the 2021 Board of Aldermen elections, Green led the Flip the Board campaign, endorsing a slate of progressive candidates running against incumbent alderpersons. Three of the four candidates were successful,

Missouri Senate campaign In October 2019, Green announced her campaign for the Missouri Senate. She ran in the Senate's fifth district, which is entirely within the City of St. Louis. The 2020 Democratic primary in this district was expected to be competitive as incumbent state senator Jamilah Nasheed could not run due to term limits.

Green received endorsements from U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders and the Democratic Socialists of America. On August 4, 2020, she lost the Democratic nomination to state representative Steve Roberts by 3%.

President of the St. Louis Board of Aldermen Campaigns 2019 Green announced in December 2017 that she would challenge Lewis Reed in the 2019 Board President election, further straining a political relationship that the Riverfront Times characterized as approaching "dumpster fire territory." During the campaign, Green faced online attacks from the St. Louis Police Association, including one Facebook post featuring an image of Green's head digitally imposed onto the body of Mao Zedong. Green accused the posts of threatening violence, which the police union denied. The attacks were covered by The New York Times in a 2020 article about police unions' opposition to reform.

She ultimately placed third in the March 2019 Democratic primary, behind Reed and state senator Jamilah Nasheed. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch later reported that she had primarily lost due to a lack of support from Black voters on the city's north side.

2022 In May 2022, Reed was indicted on federal bribery charges. On June 5, Green called for Reed to "resign immediately," saying that he had "forfeited the trust" of the city.

The only other candidate to file was Jack Coatar, an alderman whose ward was unsuccessfully targeted by Green's Flip the Board campaign in 2021. The race was characterized as pitting the city's two ideological wings against each other, with Green associated with Mayor Tishaura Jones' progressive voting bloc and Coatar aligned with more moderate Democrats. Green was endorsed by Jones, U.S. Representative Cori Bush, the St. Louis American, and the Democratic Socialists of America. She received more votes than Coatar in the September primary but both candidates advanced to the general election in November.

On November 8, 2022, Green defeated Coatar with nearly 55% of the vote to his 44%. She is the first woman to be elected President of the Board of Alderman. Despite speculation that 1st ward alderwoman Sharon Tyus would mount a challenge, Tyus opted to run in the 12th ward and Green ran unopposed. Green was re-elected in April 2023 with 89% of the vote.

In February 2023, the Board of Aldermen rejected a plan from President Green that would have re-allocated city funds among the wards based on perceived need rather than the current practice of equal distribution. After progressives won a majority of the new 14-member Board in the April 2023 elections, Green oversaw the passage of a rules package that de-emphasized the power of seniority in the chamber.

As President, Green has supported the professionalization of the Board of Aldermen by increasing aldermanic salaries and hiring legislative assistants. Her office created and circulated a citywide survey to gauge public opinion on ways to spend funds from the Rams settlement.

Activism Green participated in the 2014 Ferguson protests.

Green was a major supporter of a bill raising the city's minimum wage to $11 and opposed efforts to privatize St. Louis Lambert International Airport. She was also involved in the Close the Workhouse movement, advocating for the closure of the Medium Security Institution in St. Louis. Green has criticized the police response to the protests as "heavy handed" and "indiscriminate".

Electoral history 2014

2015

2023