An alderwoman from south St. Louis is taking a second crack at the mayor’s office.
“I believe in St. Louis - but we have a lot of work to do,” 8th Ward Alderwoman Cara Spencer wrote in a Facebook post announcing her candidacy on Thursday. “Our city isn’t meeting the needs of her people.”
In an interview later Thursday, Spencer said, “We’re not getting the basics right.”
She pointed to the conditions of the city’s roads, rising traffic violence and an underfunded refuse division in the fiscal 2025 budget, despite the investment of $500 million in federal COVID relief dollars.
Those factors, she said, are helping drive the city’s population loss of nearly 7% since 2020.
“Our community is leaving, and we’ve got to turn that around,” she said.
Spencer said she is better equipped to build the coalitions that will be needed for the city to succeed.
“One of the most pressing issues facing our region in general is the failure to work with folks with whom you don’t agree,” she said, adding that members of the Board of Aldermen often find out about new city initiatives from press releases.
“There’s really no collaboration and coordination, or at least to a level that we need to be functioning at a top level,” she said.
Mayor Tishaura Jones’ campaign aides said in a statement they look forward to a race centered on the voters.
Jones beat Spencer by 4 percentage points in the 2021 mayor’s race. Spencer called that a humbling loss.
“But I think one of the most important lessons I learned from that was, you know, just taking a step back and learning how to listen a little better.”
Because Spencer’s 8th Ward seat is not up for reelection until 2025, she did not need to choose between running for alderwoman or mayor.
“That is a lucky position,” she said. “But at the end of the day, I feel like serving as mayor is something I truly believe in and I want to do, regardless of what that might cost.”
Spencer’s aldermanic campaign committee had about $46,500 as of an April report. During her last run for mayor, she raised more than $725,000.
Jones reported having $138,000 in her campaign account in April.
