St. Louis Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore will run for full term

ST. LOUIS — St. Louis Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore announced Wednesday he is running for a full term as the city’s top prosecutor next year.

It will mark the first time Gore, a 54-year-old Democrat, is running for elected office. He said he never dreamed of becoming a political figure, but the choice became obvious in recent weeks.

“The office is on a very good trajectory,” Gore said in an interview. “It became an increasingly easy decision in this time of great need.”

Gore’s announcement comes about six months after he left his job as a partner at the high-powered and politically connected Dowd Bennett firm to take over an understaffed and dysfunctional city prosecutor’s office.

His predecessor, former St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly M. Gardner, had faced an effort from state lawmakers to strip her of most of her power, and Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey filed a lawsuit seeking her removal.

By the time she stepped down in May, Gardner’s office had half the attorneys as when she took over in 2017, leaving prosecutors with crushing caseloads and charging backlogs that were compounded by court delays and a homicide spike during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican, appointed Gore to the post. Gore said at the time he felt the city needed him, and he was up to the challenge.

“I can honestly say I have never in my life not done something because it’s going to be hard,” Gore said at the time. “Saying something is going to be hard makes it kind of interesting to me.”

Gore immediately tapped several former prosecutors to return and join his leadership team and started triaging cases with the help of the St. Louis County prosecutor's office, Missouri Attorney General’s Office and U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Prosecutors started charging more cases — resulting in 46% more case filings in his first six months than the same period last year — and he announced plans Tuesday to revive a unit to review wrongful conviction claims.

Meanwhile, Gore said, he kept one eye on the future. He said he knew he would enjoy leading the prosecutor’s office, but he didn’t know if he wanted to be subject to the expectations that are foisted on an elected official.

“It’s hard for me to imagine a scenario where I would’ve ever run for public office but for a scenario like this,” he said.

Gore has rejected the label of a progressive prosecutor, which Gardner wore proudly. But he’s also rejected the label of conservative, or “tough on crime.”

“I think of myself as someone who is trying to lead an office and perform this work with integrity and with compassion when appropriate,” he said. “I’m not so focused on compartmentalizing.”

Gore has donated to several Democratic candidates and causes over the last two decades, including President Barack Obama, former U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, former U.S. Rep. Lacy Clay, and Clay’s successor, Rep. Cori Bush.

And two of Gore’s major initiatives — the wrongful conviction unit and an effort to divert more cases away from criminal prosecution in favor of diversion programs that address issues like substance abuse — are traditionally favored by progressive prosecutors.

But Gore said the tide has shifted so that diversion programs are now part of any “modern prosecuting attorney’s office.” Data shows diversion programs work to redirect people from the court system while keeping resources focused on the small group of repeat, violent offenders who are responsible for the majority of crime, he said.

And he said he is open to other “good ideas” from other prosecutor’s offices across the country, wherever he can find them.

Gore highlighted his priorities on Wednesday as building on those new attorney hires, continuing to reduce the case backlog, and refocusing on community engagement.

He also said he’s hoping to create such a positive reputation in the office that new law school graduates would have a hard time choosing between a job in the Circuit Attorney’s Office and a higher-paying job at one of the area’s premier private firms.

“We will know when we’re there,” he said.

The Democratic primary election for circuit attorney is scheduled for August, and the primary election is scheduled for November. Gore may not be alone on the ballot.

Local defense attorney David Mueller said in April he planned to run against Gardner and continued his campaign after she resigned.

Gardner also said just before her resignation that she planned to run for another term, but she has not spoken publicly since she stepped down.

Candidates must file before March 26.