The 2025 race for St. Louis mayor is officially a rematch.
Mayor Tishaura Jones and 8th Ward Alderwoman Cara Spencer were the top two vote-getters in Tuesday’s mayoral primary and now will compete head-to-head in the April 8 general election.
Spencer received 23,785 votes; Jones garnered 11,582; Recorder of Deeds Michael Butler was third with 8,679; and retired utility executive Andrew Jones came in fourth with 4,757. Under approval voting, multiple candidates could receive support from a single voter.
Loading...
At her watch party in downtown St. Louis, Spencer told a raucous crowd that her first-place finish was a sign residents were unhappy with the status quo.
“Being mayor is so much bigger than potholes and trash,” Spencer said. “It is the visible reminder that we're not working as well as we can. That we all deserve our city to work.”
Jones used her speech to a crowd of several dozen supporters at a union hall in Midtown to go straight at her opponent.
“We have come too far to stop halfway, and our communities are tired of seeing investment in half measures, and politicians who only care when it’s election season,” she said, to hoots and hollers from the crowd. “St. Louis is and always will be my home, and I will never stop fighting to make sure that we continue to grow and thrive.”
While the outcome of the primary was the same as in 2021, the underlying numbers look quite different. In 2021, Jones got 25,388 votes, compared to Spencer’s 20,659.
“Four years ago, we were running on concepts of who we are,” Spencer said. “And this last election cycle, we have had hundreds of forums and events and neighborhood organizations and real opportunities to talk to real citizens, real voters and talk about issues in person with people. That is one of the biggest differences.”
Jones came into the primary in a much weaker position than she did in 2021. A January winter storm that left streets coated in ice and snow for nearly three weeks gave Spencer and Butler an opening to attack the administration’s competence at providing basic city services.
In addition to focusing on basic services, Spencer continually highlighted problems with a grant program for businesses in north St. Louis, as well as ongoing investigations by the FBI and state auditor into the city’s building division. Jones herself requested those investigations.
“And I would also say that we're not better off than we were four years ago in many, many very visible ways,” Spencer said. “And residents know that.”
Jones, meanwhile, emphasized a decrease in crime, especially in homicides, which are at their lowest level since 2013. She stressed the work she had done to modernize city systems like payroll and hiring. And she had reminded people that rebuilding north St. Louis after decades of disinvestment would take time.
Jones and Butler had endorsed each other as the second choice for their supporters in February.
Butler stood inside the co-working space Tech Artista in the Central West End surrounded by about a dozen campaign supporters and family Tuesday night. He thanked his team and family for their support the last nine months.
“We didn't get the results we wanted, but we got some results,” Butler said. “I use a little joke that I've never been pregnant before, but I imagine this is how it feels emotionally. I've been ready to have this baby and I didn't care if it was a boy or a girl, just as long as we finally had the baby.
“The baby that we birthed is going to carry on, it will just have some different parents.”
The 2025 primary was Andrew Jones’ third unsuccessful run for mayor. He promised at a February forum that he will run again in 2029.
Board of Aldermen
Tuesday night’s election proved to be a good night for members of the St. Louis Board of Aldermen facing contested primaries.
Current members Shane Cohn of the 3rd Ward and Laura Keys of the 11th Ward earned spots in the April general election.
In the race for the southeastern 3rd Ward, Cohn will face challenger Dallas Adams, formerly a spokesperson for Great Rivers Greenway. Inez Bordeaux, a nurse, community organizer and Democratic committeewoman, came in third.
Cohn received 919 votes, Adams 693 and Bordeaux 450.
For the north-central 11th Ward, Keys will compete in April against Rebecca McCloud, who has a professional background in insurance sales and currently works for Spectrum. Keys and McCloud beat Melinda Long, a former alderwoman of the old 21st Ward.
Keys received 743 votes, McCloud 421 and Long 140.
This story has been updated.
