April 12, 2025
Jones hoped to make historical past as the primary Black mayor of St. Louis to serve multiple time period, however fell brief.
Tishaura Jones had hoped to make historical past as the primary Black mayor of St. Louis to serve multiple time period, nevertheless it was to not be; and her supporters voiced their considerations about her successor and the course of the town after Jones’ defeat.
In keeping with The St. Louis American, Jones misplaced her reelection bid to Alderwoman Cara Spencer, with Spencer capturing 64% of the vote to Jones’ 36 p.c, and though her concession speech struck tones of hope and optimism, a few of her supporters had been cautious of Spencer’s method.
“Hey, ya’ll, tonight didn’t go as we hoped. Our metropolis has by no means had a Black mayor serve multiple time period and I do know a lot of you, like me, had been trying to make historical past with me and a second time period. Collectively, we’ve completed a lot. My opponent will inherit a metropolis that’s safer than it has been in a long time,” Jones stated in her concession speech on April 8.
Earl Bush, a supporter of Jones, instructed the outlet that he feels as if the election of Spencer as a substitute of the re-election of Jones represents a step again for St. Louis.
“Oh, it’s a downfall for the town. It’s an entire new start-over and that’s one thing we had been making an attempt to keep away from. We simply bought this far. Tishaura was simply discovering out how issues run right here within the metropolis, nicely, Metropolis Corridor. I simply hate now we have to start out over again.”
One other Jones supporter, Charles Worth, stated that he thought Spencer is unprepared for the fights that lay forward of her.
“I feel she’s woefully unprepared to understand that Trump goes to chop the whole lot. I don’t suppose she has the power to combat to protect what funding the town will get from the federal authorities,” Worth instructed The St. Louis American.
He continued, “She’s been too pleasant with lots of right-leaning individuals who prioritize rural areas or the suburbs or the place white individuals reside. I’d have fairly had Mayor Jones combating for the town as a result of I do know she loves the town.”
In February, Jones intimated to ProPublica that she believed that her work reducing crime and constructing out public security packages went unheralded by Republican legislators within the metropolis as a result of she is a Black lady who can be a Democrat.
Nonetheless, as STLPR reported, the four-way major held in March doubtless foreshadowed Jones’ defeat as she solely obtained about half as many votes as Spencer, and within the basic election, solely 26% of registered voters turned out for the vote, regardless of progressive teams pushing for Jones over the previous month.
In late March, 100 group organizers, activists, advocates, healers, and organizational leaders wrote an op-ed in The St. Louis American detailing their perception that Jones was the candidate greatest outfitted to replicate the precise wants of St. Louis’ Black group.
They had been additionally crucial of a few of Spencer’s insurance policies, writing, “We’ve been deeply upset by Spencer’s help for insurance policies of criminalization, her inaction on particular coverage proposals to handle homelessness, and her relative emphasis on cash flowing to Downtown improvement as a substitute of to distressed neighborhoods…Whereas this will likely signify the sorts of adjustments desired by these funding her marketing campaign, these are all unacceptable to us.”
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