ST. LOUIS COUNTY — Family ties aren’t unusual in Missouri politics, with ºüÀêÊÓƵ Mayor Tishaura O. Jones, Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, former U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt and ex-U.S. Rep. Lacy Clay among the many figures with close relatives who also have held elective office.
But few can compete with the Waltons of north ºüÀêÊÓƵ County when it comes to sheer numbers of candidates.
In Tuesday’s Democratic primary, seven members of the extended Walton family are vying for nine different offices.
That includes the patriarch, Elbert Walton Jr., a former state representative and disbarred lawyer who’s been involved in various controversies over the past five decades. This year, he’s in a three-way race for Democratic committeeman in Norwood Township and is also steering the family’s various campaigns.
“I’m the manager. I manage everything,†says Walton. “It’s what I enjoy doing. It’s just my passion.â€
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Walton, 82, got his start in ºüÀêÊÓƵ city politics in the 1970s and moved to North County in the 1990s, launching a political organization aimed at representing the growing number of fellow Black residents in the area.
Preeminent in Tuesday’s Walton electoral lineup are the reelection campaign of one of Walton’s daughters, state Sen. Angela Walton Mosley of Florissant, and the comeback bid of another, former County Councilwoman Rochelle Walton Gray of Black Jack.
Gray is trying to unseat Council Chairwoman Shalonda Webb of North County, who defeated Gray in the 2020 Democratic primary and went on to win the general election. Mosley is challenged for the Senate nomination by state Rep. Chantelle Nickson-Clark of North County.
Meanwhile, two Mosley daughters — Chanel Mosley of North County and Janay Mosley of Florissant — are candidates for the state House. Each has two Democratic primary opponents.
Chanel Mosley wants to succeed her uncle, term-limited Rep. Alan Gray, who is Rochelle Walton Gray’s husband. Janay Mosley is running for the seat held now by her father, term-limited Rep. Jay Mosley.
Jay Mosley is running for Florissant Township Democratic committeeman, and his wife, Senator Mosley, is trying to unseat the township’s committeewoman, Mary Elizabeth Dorsey.
Rochelle Gray, the county council candidate, also is running for reelection as Ferguson Township committeewoman.
The seventh Walton-related candidate on Tuesday’s ballot is Yvonne Gray, Rep. Gray’s sister, who is running for Spanish Lake Township committeewoman against incumbent Gwen Reed. Walton, through two political committees, also aids other North County candidates.
Kem Smith, one of Janay Mosley’s opponents, said the numerous Walton family officeholders in recent years are akin to a North County monarchy.
“I’m absolutely bothered by it,†said Smith, an English teacher at McCluer North High School. “We’re not in Britain; this is the United States.â€
Regarding family members’ continued runs for state legislative seats, Smith contended that they amount to an attempt to get around the term-limit law in place for the House and Senate.
“We are not supposed to hand one role to the next family member,†she said.
Walton, of Moline Acres, insists that he’s “not a boss at all.â€
He said while he’s involved in his family’s campaigns, he doesn’t dictate what they do in office.
“When they get elected, they make whatever decisions they’re going to make,†he said.
But he has shown interest in goings-on at the ºüÀêÊÓƵ County Council. In 2017, he appeared at a council meeting to accuse all five white members of the council at the time of conspiring to defeat a bill by his daughter, Rochelle, that was intended to give full control of redevelopment of the Jamestown Mall site to the council.
Walton, when he represented a ºüÀêÊÓƵ district in the House from 1979 to 1992, was known as an outspoken maverick, sometimes clashing with other Democrats.
Mike Jones, a former ºüÀêÊÓƵ alderman who isn’t related to Mayor Jones, called Walton “a brilliant tactician†in campaigns who, once elected, wasn’t known for political compromise.
“His predisposition was to be assertive and confrontational,†said Jones, who grew up in the same north ºüÀêÊÓƵ neighborhood with Walton. “He would be quicker to turn the table over than negotiate at the table.â€
Later, Walton was involved in a controversy about 15 years ago as an attorney for the Northeast Ambulance and Fire Protection District, which was criticized for financial mismanagement by the state auditor and others.
Then in 2019, Walton was disbarred by the Missouri Supreme Court after the court’s Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel found probable cause that he committed professional misconduct.
He also had been disciplined previously, including an 18-month license suspension in 2017 connected to his conduct during a 2013 bankruptcy case.
The bankruptcy court said Walton in the trial yelled at the judge, was “obnoxious and disrespectful†in his tone and demeanor, and didn’t file documents or responses in a timely manner.
Walton’s first race was an unsuccessful long-shot try for ºüÀêÊÓƵ aldermanic president in 1975. He followed that up in 1978, narrowly defeating an incumbent state representative allied with the then-powerful state Sen. J.B. “Jet†Banks, D-ºüÀêÊÓƵ.
Mike Jones said Walton was a trailblazer for young Black Democrats in the 1970s when he went up against Banks’ leadership.
“Elbert was the first of our generation to actually take on the Black Democratic machines†in charge in many city wards then, Jones said. “He challenged the organizations.â€
Jones, who later became a top aide to former ºüÀêÊÓƵ Mayor Clarence Harmon and former County Executive Charlie Dooley, now is a part-time adviser to County Executive Sam Page, a Walton ally. Jones says he’s not involved in the current Walton campaigns.
Walton gave up his House seat in 1992 to run unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for ºüÀêÊÓƵ circuit attorney. Later, he moved to North County and gradually built his political organization aimed at Black county residents.
“There was a void there,†said former ºüÀêÊÓƵ Aldermanic President James Shrewsbury. “He filled that void.â€
From 2001 through 2008, his wife — Juanita Head Walton, a former ºüÀêÊÓƵ School Board member — served in the Missouri House and left due to term limits. The Waltons later divorced; she died in 2016.
Juanita Walton was succeeded in the House by her stepdaughter, Rochelle Walton Gray, who moved on to the County Council in 2016 when she, too, hit the term-limit wall. She, in turn, was succeeded by her husband, Alan Gray, who now faces term limits.
Jennings Councilman Terry Wilson, the current Norwood Township committeeman Elbert Walton is running against this year, said the Waltons have taken family politics “to another level.â€
But in the end, Wilson said, “the folks still have to vote,†and that’s who ultimately decides.