Democrat wins special election for Senate seat

ST. LOUIS -- Former state Rep. Maida Coleman closed the gap in the state Senate for Democrats on Tuesday, beating Republican Roger Plackemeier in a special election that narrows the GOP majority in the body to two seats.

Coleman, 47, resigned her state House seat earlier this year to run for the 5th District senate seat. She replaces Paula Carter, who died in November after a long battle with cancer.

After Coleman is sworn in, Republicans will hold an 18-16 majority in the 34-member state Senate.

According to complete, unofficial results, Coleman got 3,527 votes, or 80.5 percent of 4,383 ballots cast. Plackemeier, 37, a recruiter for an investment firm, received 856 votes, or 19.5 percent.

Coleman's election in the 5th District, which covers about half of the city of St. Louis, fills the last vacancy in the state Senate. Former state Rep. Harry Kennedy, D-St. Louis, won election to the state Senate in a December special election.

As a Democratic committeewoman in St. Louis, Coleman said, she first met Carter in 1995. She remembered Carter as a politician who had a "certain style and flair of her own."

"We had a real good relationship and I respected her as my senator," Coleman said. "I suspect I'll be just as effective as a legislator as Paula was, and she certainly was effective."

In Jefferson City, Coleman said she wants to focus on preventing the tightening state budget from affecting social services and work to protect jobs in St. Louis. To that end, she supports efforts of the St. Louis Cardinals to build a new stadium with state support.

"I don't want to see a loss in all those service worker jobs," Coleman said.

In January, Coleman resigned from her 63rd District seat in the state House, which she held for only one year.