Incumbent Tishaura Jones and Cara Spencer are running in the general election for mayor of St. Louis on April 8, 2025. This contest is a rematch of the 2021 election, in which Jones defeated Spencer 52% to 48%. Both candidates are affiliated with the Democratic Party.
In the four-person primary, Spencer received 49% of the vote, and Jones received 24%. St. Louis Post-Dispatch‘s Austin Huguelt and Joe Holleman wrote that Spencer’s performance was a “reversal from four years ago, when Jones beat Spencer by [four] percentage points.” St. Louis Public Radio‘s Rachel Lippmann, Jason Rosenbaum, Will Bauer, and Lacretia Wimbley wrote, “While the outcome of the primary was the same as in 2021, the underlying numbers look quite different.”
Jones was first elected in 2021. She is campaigning on her record and says, “We’ll be able to show people exactly where we have improved some of the things that they are most concerned about, and also let them know how we’re going to improve things in our second term.” Jones says that she used pandemic funds to improve the city: “Homicides were at an all-time high and services weren’t being delivered. Fast forward to now and we’ve received pandemic relief funds and the first thing we did was to ask the community ‘what would you like to see’ with those funds. And we’ve invested in people, infrastructure and upgraded the government experience.”
Spencer is a member of the St. Louis Board of Aldermen, representing Ward 8. Spencer is campaigning to reduce government corruption and says, “Governments are failing our communities, and the city of St. Louis is failing our communities. And if I’m elected mayor, what I’ll do to rebuild trust is root out corruption in every single city department…zero tolerance for corruption.” She is also campaigning on public safety. Her website says, “Public safety is Cara’s top priority. … A safer St. Louis starts with action and Cara’s committed to ensuring every resident’s right to live in safety.”
On March 8, the Democratic Party of St. Louis endorsed Spencer. The party’s Central Committee Chair Sean Fauss (D) said the endorsement showed Spencer “was able to win from where I’m at in the south ward all the way into the farthest north ward, and the votes of committee people in between.”
Eighteen percent of eligible voters turned out for the primary. Jones says her numbers in the general election would improve with increased turnout and that her strategy was to “make sure that people are aware that there is another election… and increas[e] turnout all over the city.” Board of Aldermen president Megan Ellyia Green notes the possible effect that the supporters of the third and fourth-place primary finishers, Michael Butler and Andrew Jones Jr., could have on this race. She pointed to the potential influence of Butler’s supporters for Jones and said she thought “a lot of the Butler vote will consolidate to the mayor.”