Former Alderwoman and state Rep. Donna Baringer beat longtime St. Louis Comptroller Darlene Green on Tuesday, ending Green’s nearly 30-year political career.
Baringer got 51.5% of the vote, with Green receiving 48.5% in final unofficial results. Turnout was about 25.7%.
Loading...
“I got into this race because I wanted to see a better future for our city, that was my ultimate goal,” Baringer told supporters celebrating the victory at the Dogwood event space in the Grove entertainment district.
“The first thing people said to me when I said I was going to run is, ‘Are you serious, you’re going to take on a 30-year incumbent?’” Baringer said. “My reply back was, ‘If I don’t, who will?’”
Despite the loss, Green said she was proud of the campaign she and her supporters put together.
“Even though we didn’t get the victory this time, we move forward with hope,” Green said in a statement. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to have served the people in the city that I love with integrity and dignity for the past 29 years.”
Baringer was the top vote-getter in the March primary by a narrow margin and had picked up the endorsement of Celeste Metcalf, the third candidate in that race.
Baringer’s message focused on details she said were falling through the cracks, such as delays in paying invoices and glitches in a new financial management software. She had promised greater transparency and more use of technology if elected.
The office needed a leader who would show up for work and take care of its employees, she said.
Mayor Freeman Bosley elevated Green to comptroller in 1995 after Virvus Jones went to federal prison for tax fraud. Aside from her first election in 1996, she had faced little to no opposition in her eight previous races.
The city’s financial picture has improved greatly since Green took office, and she had pushed voters to keep an experienced hand in the comptroller’s office, especially as the city deals with changes in state and federal policy changes that impact its finances.
Local unions like the SEIU and Labor Council had done most of the traditional campaigning for Green with a message of her support for city workers. But Baringer dominated in fundraising, bringing in about $130,000 between October and late March, while Green raised about $41,000 over the same period.
A new political action committee that drew much of its financial support from the business and development community in the area also sent out mailers on Baringer’s behalf.
Many of the new PAC’s funders were also financial backers of Cara Spencer, who was elected mayor Tuesday. That had caught the eye of some progressives in the last week of the campaign, who noted that the mayor and comptroller are two of three members of the Board of Estimate and Apportionment. The fiscal oversight board oversees all contracting decisions, including for the new single terminal at St. Louis Lambert International Airport.
“The big money play led by a group of wealthy, white developers who don’t live in our city, but seek to profit off of it, should give us pause,” the board’s third member, aldermanic President Megan Green, wrote on Facebook on March 27.
Baringer is set to be sworn in April 15. She said her priorities include bringing back people who have left the comptroller’s office, hiring new workers and improving office technology. She also said St. Louis needs to work with Jefferson City lawmakers to help fund and improve Lambert.
“We have to make sure we don’t put any hurdles into place," Baringer said. "And I will be a hands-on airport commissioner at every meeting, doing whatever I need to do to make sure that we get the airport that we need in the city because that helps our city grow.”
