The final count in Tuesday’s mayoral primary showed that Treasurer Tishaura Jones gained 59.7 percent of the vote and Alderwoman Cara Spencer received 46.36 percent in the city’s first election with “non-partisan approval” voting. These were the two candidates who captured the highest percentage of the 44,538 ballots cast, and they will compete in the general election on April 6. Unlike in the past, there will be no party affiliation, or in this case gender distinction, on the ballot for either of these Democratic elected officials. While the turnout represented only 22 percent of the city’s 201,352 registered voters (Jones was the only candidate to gain more than 50 percent of the vote) Aldermanic president Lewis Reed, whose third bid for the mayoral office saw his campaign, assailed by a bombardment of negative ads, result in a dismal third place with only 38.53 percent of the vote. Utility executive Andrew Jones was last with 14.42 percent. The unexpected, sometimes regressive, highly effective strategy by the Spencer campaign worked to vanquish and then catapult her past Reed.
It is notable that Treasurer Jones’ support was broad-based, as was her resounding landslide victory in the Democratic primary for treasurer last August. We look forward to a spirited campaign between two progressive women candidates (both of whom can read a spreadsheet) who will share their vision and platforms for a revitalized future for the city that will lead the way forward past years of decline. In either case, we will see a new generation of energized, fresh leadership. We hope that both campaigns will adhere to a level of civility and substance in the next four and a half weeks that our deeply divided city needs if it is to reset to become a more equitable and thriving city.
While there are some dogged naysayers about Jones’s candidacy, they ignore the repeated voter support for her aspirational messaging. She won 18 out of 28 wards, Spencer only 10. Her leadership resonates with a wide swath of supporters that extend across the city, county and beyond, nationally. Her campaign will attract national attention, and we see many nationally known, experienced leaders in person, as well as virtually, during the campaign.
We have already seen political leadership across St. Louis County, the city of St. Louis boundary and across the Mississippi River show a willingness to engage with her to address mutual concerns. This also includes the unprecedented outreach and support for Jones across the state by Mayor Quinton Lucas of Kansas City, based on their shared interests.
We assume we will learn more about 20th Ward Alderwoman Spencer, who has a thin resume of executive leadership beyond her articulate campaign rhetoric. Hopefully both candidates will ignore the examples of some in the media who seek to ramp up and stoke voters based largely on their personal animus at the expense of a serious discussion about forward-thinking policies that prioritize more inclusive growth.
The stakes in the upcoming mayoral general election for the future of the city and the region are high, with expectations of additional resources from the federal government, we will need the highest, most competent level of leadership in the city of St. Louis, the region’s essential urban core.