Democratic Committee spurns Mayor Jones

In a surprise move, the St. Louis City Democratic Central Committee last week voted to endorse Alderwoman Cara Spencer against incumbent Mayor Tishaura O. Jones in the April mayoral election.

It was an unusual show of support from a challenger against a former committee member (Jones) and an incumbent of the same party.  

Out of the 26 committee members, representing the city’s 14 wards, nine voted for Jones, 15 endorsed Spencer and two abstained. The other challengers, Michael Butler and Andrew Jones, did not secure enough votes in the municipal primary to land a spot on the ballot.

The committee’s elected body consists of one Committeewoman and one Committeeman from each of the 14 wards in the city. The group’s stated mission is to build a strong party organization within the city and work to get Democrats elected up and down the party ticket in every election.

Parker Loveless, committeeman of the 9^th Ward, said he was aware that some northside committee members were dissatisfied with Jones’ performance over the past four years but was somewhat surprised by the body’s final tally.

“I didn’t know which way it was going to go,” Loveless confessed.

“I suspected the southside would be heavily in Spencer’s camp but had not anticipated the significant support she’d get from northside committee persons.

“Some of them have beefs with her, I understand but I don’t really know if their votes are reflective of their constituents. It will be interesting to see how that plays out in April,” Loveless continued.

“Maybe they have their finger on the pulse of people, maybe not.”

Debra Loveless, Parker’s wife and 9^th Ward committeewoman voted for Jones. She, too, was surprised by the number of votes for Spencer from northside committee members. Some, she said, may have been swayed by last month’s primary votes.

“I think some people kind of saw the handwriting on the wall,” Loveless said. “They saw that Cara got 68% of the votes and Tishaura got something like 33%. Perhaps they felt they were supporting the will of the people by voting for her (Spencer).”

Sean Fauss, the committee chair, said members had heard many of the same complaints of voters which included Jones administration’s response to the big January snowstorm; the city’s development agency (SLDC) handling of a North Side grant program and concerns echoed by “more progressive” members about the city’s downtown jail where detainees have died in custody.

Parker, who voted for Jones, said the mayor has been saddled with issues and problems left over from previous administrations like the tragedies related to the city jail.

“That really wasn’t on her. You had an overcrowded situation, you had COVID. It was a bottleneck that turned into a Hoover dam and all that’s been hung around her neck like an albatross.”

He also argued that some things Jones has been criticized for, like January’s snowstorm, have been grossly mischaracterized.

“Spencer’s big thing is, ‘we didn’t get the snow off the streets!’ Well, that was an unusual and historic type of storm.  Usually, in St. Louis, it snows and then in a day or two, it would be gone. But it snowed, then we got ice on top of it, then it stayed cold for the next week. That’s not what happens here. Another thing, I’ve lived in St. Louis for 65 years and they have never cleared residential streets, but they fault her for that.”  

Fauss described the endorsement as “just another logo” for candidates to promote themselves. But, he added, the votes for Spencer — and against Jones, defied “the traditional divides in city politics, coming from both northern and southern wards and Black and white committee members.”

In a news release Jones downplayed the 15-9 committee vote saying, “It is not one that reflects the decades of service that the mayor has offered to our local, state, and national Democratic Party and certainly not one which reflects what is best for the future of our city.”

On that note, Parker said he’s also concerned with attempts and attacks from state Republicans to restrict liberties and snatch rights from St. Louis voters. He believes Jones is better suited than an inexperienced newcomer to battle Red state assaults.

“It gives me cause for pause,” Parker said. “Obviously Tishaura had been a representative in the state house prior to becoming treasurer in the city. She knows how the cow eats the cabbage, basically meaning she knows how the systems work.”

Regarding the North Side grant program, Parker said there’s plenty of blame to go around which includes missteps by Jones and Spencer’s abrupt resignation from her top post with the city’s nonprofit development agency late last year. He said he hasn’t heard the same level of commitment to North St Louis from Spencer’s camp. With four more years, he feels confident Jones will carry out her historic but ambitious endeavor.

“As I said, I’ve been a resident of the city all my life and there has been literally decades of benign neglect on the northside of St. Louis. So, no, that wasn’t going to get turned around in just four years.”

Although he’s concerned about the mayoral election’s outcome, Loveless said it will all boil down to Jones’ supporters-especially north St. Louis voters-turning up in large numbers for the April election.

“Unless there’s a landslide from the northside, she has no hope.”

Sylvester Brown Jr. is the Deaconess Foundation Community Advocacy Fellow.