Megan Ellyia Green^[3] (born July 25, 1983) is an American politician and educator from St. Louis, Missouri. She has served as the President of the St. Louis Board of Aldermen since 2022, having previously been the alderwoman from the 15th ward since 2014. Green is a progressive Democrat and a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.

Originally from Upstate New York, Green moved to St. Louis in 2005 to participate in the Coro Fellows Program in Public Affairs. She has a political science degree from Penn State and a PhD in education policy from Saint Louis University. Green is an adjunct professor at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis, teaching public policy.^[3]

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.^[4][5]

Early life and career

Green was born in Oneonta, New York in 1983.^[1][6] 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.^[6]

As part of the fellowship program, Green worked for U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill. She later participated in Teach for America and was involved in an unsuccessful effort to create a new charter school in St. Louis. She was also a local organizer for Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign.^[6]

St. Louis Board of Aldermen

Green was first elected to the Board of Aldermen on October 7, 2014, winning a special election in the 15th ward, which covers Tower Grove South and parts of Tower Grove East. Running as an independent, she received 46% of the vote and defeated three other candidates. Green had been endorsed by Board President Lewis E. Reed.^[7] She was sworn in on October 17, 2014.^[8] The special election had been called after the previous alderwoman, Jennifer Florida, resigned to become the city's Recorder of Deeds.^[7]

Green was re-elected to the Board of Aldermen in April 2015 with nearly 89% of the vote.^[9][10] Her primary opponent criticized her involvement in the Ferguson protests.^[6] In March 2017, Green was challenged by her predecessor, Jennifer Florida, in the primary. Florida was charged with third-degree assault against a man in St. Louis County during the campaign.^[11] Green defeated Florida by over 30%^[12] and won the general unopposed.^[13]

In 2021, Green won a re-match against Jennifer Florida in a nonpartisan election using approval voting.^[14][15] 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.^[16] 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."^[17] 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."^[18]

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.^[19] On February 11, Green released a statement asking Reed to apologize.^[20]

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.^[21] Three of the four candidates were successful,^[15] reportedly resulting in a 15-seat progressive majority on the Board of Aldermen. Green later told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the "city electorate is a lot more progressive than people have thought recently."^[22]

Activism

Green participated in the 2014 Ferguson protests.^[6] In a September 2017 incident, Green and several others were tear-gassed by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department in the Central West End while protesting police brutality. She sued the city and its police department in 2018, alleging retaliation and excessive use of force.^[23]

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.^[6]

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.^[24]

Green received endorsements from U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders^[25] and the Democratic Socialists of America.^[26] On August 4, 2020, she lost the Democratic nomination to state representative Steve Roberts by 3%.^[27]

President of the St. Louis Board of Alderman

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."^[28] During the campaign, Green faced online attacks from the St. Louis Police Association, with one Facebook post featuring an image of Green's head digitally imposed onto the body of Mao Zedong. Green accused one post stating "better dead than red" of threatening violence, which the police union denied.^[29] The attacks were covered by The New York Times in a 2020 article about police unions' opposition to reform.^[30]

She ultimately placed third in the March 2019 Democratic primary, behind Reed and state senator Jamilah Nasheed.^[31] 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.^[6] In January 2020, Green was fined by the Missouri Ethics Commission for failing to report campaign contributions, later stated to be a clerical error.^[32]

2022

In May 2022, Reed was indicted on federal bribery charges.^[33] On June 5, Green called for Reed to "resign immediately," saying that he had "forfeited the trust" of the city.^[16] Reed ultimately resigned on June 7 and Green announced her candidacy to replace him the following week.^[34]

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.^[35] 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.^[36] Green was endorsed by Jones, U.S. Representative Cori Bush, the St. Louis American, and the Democratic Socialists of America.^[37][38] She received more votes than Coatar in the September primary^[39] but both candidates advanced to the general election in November.^[40]

On November 8, 2022, Green defeated Coatar with nearly 55% of the vote to his 44%.^[41] She won 10 of the 14 wards due to a strong coalition of Black voters on the north side and progressive white voters in the Tower Grove area.^[42] She is the first woman to be elected President of the Board of Alderman.^[4]

2023

In December 2022, Green filed to run for re-election to a full four-year term.^[43] Despite speculation that 1st ward alderwoman Sharon Tyus would mount a challenge, Tyus opted to run in the 12th ward and Green ran unopposed.^[44][45] She with re-elected in April 2023 with 89% of the vote.^[46]

Tenure

Green was sworn in as President of the Board of Aldermen on November 18, 2022; her inauguration ceremony was held on November 28.^[5] Considered a close political ally of Mayor Tishaura Jones, Green stated that her initial priorities as President were allocating pandemic aid funds, expanding social services, and overseeing the reduction of the Board of Aldermen from 28 to 14 members.^[47]

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.^[48] 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.^[49]

As President, Green has supported the professionalization of the Board of Aldermen by increasing aldermanic salaries and hiring legislative assistants.^[50] Her office created and circulated a citywide survey to gauge public opinion on ways to spend funds from the Rams settlement.^[51] In a November 2023 "legislative report", she summarized policy achievements of the past year and stated that "St. Louis is choosing progress."^[50]

Electoral history

2014

2015

2017

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023