Colton Baumgartner made Granite City history last month when she filed paperwork to run for mayor as a transgender woman.
Her candidacy was short-lived.
Last week, the Granite City Electoral Board ruled in favor of a local resident who had filed objections against Baumgartner and a second mayoral candidate, Kim Benda, for violating the Illinois Election Code and voted to remove their names from the April 1, 2025, consolidated election ballot.
For now, that leaves only one candidate for mayor, incumbent Mike Parkinson. Benda blames politics.
“I’m appealing (the Electoral Board’s decision), and I’m filing a lawsuit,” she said Monday, accusing Parkinson of getting a friend to raise objections to eliminate competition.
The BND couldn’t immediately reach Parkinson or the objector, Michalene Millas, for comment.
The mayor shrugged off Benda’s accusations as excuses during an interview with KSDK-TV, arguing that he had to play by the same strict rules during his first campaign.
“I’m not afraid to run against people,” he was quoted as saying.
Millas is a Madison County employee who works part-time as a bartender at The Mill, an entertainment and event center owned and operated by the city.
In her two three-page objections, Millas is described as “a voter desirous that the laws governing the filing of nominating papers for the Mayor of Granite City, Illinois, are properly complied with, and that only qualified candidates appear on the ballot for said office.”
Signature shortage
Illinois law governing the April election required people to file candidate paperwork by Nov. 18 and objections by Nov. 25.
Millas’s objection to Baumgartner’s candidacy centered on petitions she had submitted as part of her paperwork. The Electoral Board agreed that some people who signed were either not registered to vote or not living at Granite City addresses they provided.
Baumgartner said Monday she doesn’t plan to appeal.
“We’re more or less biting the bullet and accepting defeat but also learning from the experience,” said the greenhouse regional director, 35, who plans to stay active in the community.
Baumgartner said she and Anthony Padgett, her husband and campaign manager, are new to politics and part of a small grassroots effort that tried to fortify against any potential problems.
They submitted 210 signatures, 34 more than the 176 required, but ended up with only 166 after the Electoral Board review, according to Padgett.
In an interview earlier this month, Baumgartner said she wants to use her platforms as an actress, producer and Miss Trans Illinois in 2024 to help make positive changes in the world.
As for Granite City, a largely blue-collar city built around the steel industry, Baumgartner described it as more supportive than people might expect on transgender issues.
“We’re just human beings trying to make a difference,” she said.
'I'm not giving up'
Benda, 58, is a local real-estate agent who ran for City Council twice and lost. She’s been an outspoken critic of the Parkinson administration.
Millas’s objection to Benda’s candidacy centered on the way paperwork was submitted to the city clerk’s office. She argued that it wasn’t “neatly fastened together” and its 29 pages weren’t in correct order, as required by the Illinois Election Code.
Benda said two witnesses with her on filing day rebutted these claims at the Electoral Board hearing. She’s accusing city employees of taking off her paper clip and changing the page order.
The objection also stated that Benda violated the code by using photocopies of petition forms instead of originals and identifying herself as “Kimberly” on some forms and “Kim” on others.
Benda said the city failed to follow several rules of the objection process and summoned her to the Dec. 4 hearing by serving her just before midnight Dec. 2, forcing her to hire an attorney and prepare a case in one day.
“If the appeal doesn’t go right, I’ll run as a write-in candidate,” she said Monday. “I’m not giving up. There’s so much corruption in this town.”
Appeals of Granite City Electoral Board decisions go to the Madison County Board of Elections.
Jenna DeYong, city clerk for Granite City, said Monday her office won’t certify the ballot for city offices until the process has been completed for all appeals, probably in January.
Editor's note: This story was originally published by the Belleville News-Democrat. Teri Maddox is a reporter for the Belleville News-Democrat, a news partner of St. Louis Public Radio.
