Looking to replace Mike Bost in East St. Louis, Democrat says he would focus on the city
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When Democratic candidate David Palmer tells voters East St. Louis problems are 13th Congressional District problems, they don’t believe him at first.
Broadband, teacher shortages, crime, and the cost of food are on everyone’s mind, said Palmer, a 35-year-old retirement adviser from Champaign.
Before Democrats redrew the district after the 2020 Census, Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Bost represented East St. Louis and Belleville. They’re now part of a new district that includes all or parts of Springfield, Decatur and Champaign-Urbana. Palmer believes investments in East St. Louis will also be investments in the rest of the district.
“The district is a lot more alike than we think,” Palmer said.
Though running for Congress means he misses out on “special moments” at home with his two young kids, Palmer said politics is an opportunity to “meet people and give them hope” for a better future.
Increasing crime rates contributed to his decision to run.
“We were starting to see increases in crime and especially violent crime and it was being committed by our youth population,” Palmer said. “We needed a leader who could understand the district, who has walked in the shoes of so many regular Illinoisians and could fight against the status quo of political elites and the special interest groups who have simply not connected with everyday people in this district.”
Palmer grew up in Nashville, Tennessee, with a mother who ran an in-home daycare and a father who was a manufacturing manager at U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company. His parents’ generosity with the community sticks with him. Palmer’s mom only charged about $100 a week for her day care to help single moms. She did hair for free and provide meals to kids who needed them.
“It’s really where my passion for really making sure that you take care of less fortunate people comes from,” Palmer said. “That’s who my family has always been. For me, it’s always been about the service work.”
Basketball was another calling for the 6-foot-9 Palmer, who played six professional seasons. After graduating from Oak Hill Academy in Virginia and the University of Iowa, he went on to play basketball in Detroit, Warsaw, Poland, and Stockton, California, among other locations.
While playing in Fukuoka, Japan in late 2012, he and his now wife, Chelsea, realized his profession “didn’t work for building a family.” He retired in 2013, and they moved to Champaign.
At the end of 2014, Palmer began volunteering for the Boys and Girls Club as a mentor. He worked his way up to program associate, earning $10 per hour. He later became a programming director and spent four years working at the organization. Wanting to earn more money to support his family, Palmer became a retirement adviser.
Yet that work didn’t satisfy Palmer’s need to “be more involved” in civic life. He closely followed St. Louis Mayor Tishuara Jones’ 2020 and 2021 campaign and attended some of her events. Palmer still looks to her for inspiration.
The mayor supported St. Louis’ Cure Violence program, which Palmer would like to see instituted in the 13th Congressional District. To reduce or prevent violence, program workers mediate conflicts and connect community members with social services. It began in 2020.
Homicides and shootings decreased in neighborhoods where Cure Violence operated in its first full year, but they also dropped in other neighborhoods with similar demographics, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. A recent analysis by ProPublica and APM Reports cast further uncertainty on the homicide rate in St. Louis. The publications found the city lowered its murder count by classifying some deaths as “justifiable homicides.”
Palmer believes a similar anti-violence effort in the 13th could reduce violent crime, but he also wants basic improvements such as stop lights in low-income neighborhoods and beautification programs. Those measures, combined with economic development, would make a difference, he said.
“East St. Louis doesn’t need federal grants. They don’t need people to send them money as Band-Aids so they can say ‘I didn’t forget about your community’ when the next election comes,” Palmer said. “They need to see their representation on the ground there trying to recruit industry, recruit businesses to that area. You have to bring jobs there and bring economic future there. It can’t just be about federal grants.”
Palmer said he would push to resolve sanitation issues in the metro-east, such as in Cahokia Heights. Flooding and sewage issues have plagued the area of the city formerly known as Centreville for decades.
Residents have criticized elected officials for making promises and failing to deliver on solutions. Palmer’s job as a congressman would be to connect local and federal officials to ensure government money is available and spent effectively, he said.
The candidate would like to see Congress push for more home down payment assistance and programs to address food deserts. He also supports “a woman’s right to choose” in reproductive care, the child tax care credit and universal health care. He’d support the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, which would restore portions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that the Supreme Court struck down in 2013.
The act would also make partisan gerrymandering illegal. Illinois Democrats gerrymandered the 13th, drawing the map to benefit a candidate from their own party. While Palmer might benefit, he said he wants the practice outlawed.
“Democratic legislatures have to gerrymander because Republican legislatures gerrymander,” Palmer said. “None of us should do it.”
While Republicans aren’t likely to have much in common with his priorities, Palmer said he recognizes the need to “swallow your pride” in order to pass legislation.
“That’s how important getting stuff done in the 13th district is,” Palmer said.
If elected, Palmer said would hire “key stakeholders” from communities across the district to make sure people can access their congressman.
“People are tired of feeling like the only time they get to hear from politicians and government officials is now. People want to knock on their doors, they want to meet them,” Palmer said. “And then all of a sudden, no one shows up again.”
Palmer faces two other candidates in the June 28 Democratic primary: Nikki Budzinski, a political adviser and labor activist from Peoria, and Ellis Everett Taylor, a minimum wage worker from Decatur.
This story was originally published April 7, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
