Kirkwood City Council Member Liz Gibbons celebrates her election victory with supporters Tuesday night at Mission Taco in Kirkwood. Gibbons will succeed Tim Griffin as mayor of Kirkwood. | photo by Ursula Ruhl
Voters in Kirkwood have chosen Liz Gibbons to lead the city as mayor. Gibbons will succeed longtime Mayor Tim Griffin, who has been termed out.
Gibbons earned 3,662 votes, or 63.6% of the votes, according to unofficial election results from the St. Louis County Board of Elections.
“Truly one of the greatest joys of this race has been bringing in people from all sides of the spectrum. That is the way that I want to lead the city for the next four years — bringing people together,” Gibbons said during an election night speech. “I want to hear what people have to say. I want to be transparent. I want to be available.
“I promise that I will be working hard every single day for Kirkwood to make it the best it can be for all of us,” Liz Gibbons told her supporters on election night. | photo by Ursula Ruhl
“I promise that I will be working hard every single day for Kirkwood to make it the best it can be for all of us,” Gibbons added.
Rival candidate Mark Zimmer came up short with 2,096 votes, or 36.4%. Zimmer is two years into his second full term on the city council and will continue to serve out his term for another two years.
Gibbons, 70, has lived in Kirkwood for over 60 years, and attended school in the Kirkwood School District. Her husband, Mike, is a former state senator. They have two children and two grandchildren all living in Kirkwood. Gibbons attended the University of Tulsa and spent her professional life in both the public and private sectors as a non-profit director, legislative aide, travel director and corporate sales manager.
Though she has only served one term on the city council, Gibbons earned the endorsement of Kirkwood’s current Mayor Griffin, who said her well-developed network of friends and supporters can trust her to make the right decisions for the city.
Gibbons has served as council liaison to the city’s arts commission, library, special business district and Greentree Festival Committee. Gibbons was named the 2022 Kirkwood Citizen of the Year by the Kirkwood-Des Peres Area Chamber of Commerce.
She was elected to the Kirkwood City Council in 2020. Among her accomplishments during her tenure are helping to secure $2.5 million to renovate the Kirkwood Train Station; spearheading the Grant’s Trail extension into downtown Kirkwood; holding a lighting presentation on the negative effects of brighter lighting, resulting in the city’s electric department purchasing lower temperature bulbs for some streetlamps; and initiating striping in an area by Kirkwood High School to prevent parking during high school events, making the area safer.
Gibbons is also responsible for the demonstration project on Kirkwood Road in 2023. In addition, she worked with stakeholders to successfully lobby for the return of a second Amtrak Missouri River Runner train after rail service was reduced.
“I work hard and I do more than say yes or no to legislation,” Gibbons said during her campaign. “I’ve had a lot of successes, and I want to keep going.”
While Zimmer thanked his voters for their support on social media, he declined to comment for this story.
