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ST. LOUIS — Alderwoman Cara Spencer took a commanding lead in the race for mayor, tallying in Tuesday's primary more than double the votes of her closest competitor, Mayor Tishaura O. Jones.

Final unofficial returns showed Spencer winning support from 68% of voters compared to Jones’ 33%, with just over a month until the two will be on the ballot again in April.

Recorder of Deeds Michael Butler and retired businessman Andrew Jones received support from 25% and 14% of voters, respectively, knocking them out of the race.

Primary elections for mayor and most city offices use so-called “approval voting,� in which residents can vote for as many candidates as they like, which is why candidates' percentages add up to more than 100%.

The results dovetailed with pre-election polling showing the mayor in dire straits after a grueling term challenged by malfunctioning city services, problems spending federal pandemic aid and public safety concerns that have persisted even as crime rates have dropped.

And Tuesday's results offered some validation for Spencer, who lost to Jones four years ago and spent much of this campaign calling out the problems and telling voters that she could do better.

"I couldn't even imagine such an enormous margin," Spencer told about 250 people gathered at her watch party in downtown St. Louis on Tuesday night.

"This campaign isn't just about potholes and trash," she said. "Those are just the visible reminders that our city isn't working as well as you all deserve it to work."

Jones, speaking to reporters at her watch party at a union hall in Midtown, said the election isn't over.

“It’s not over by a long shot,� Jones said. “We got another 35 days.�

But Ken Warren, the longtime pollster and St. Louis University professor, was skeptical.

“Those are very, very poor numbers for Jones,� he said. “It doesn’t look like we’re going to have anything other than a new mayor, Cara Spencer."

The votes tallied Tuesday marked a remarkable reversal from four years ago, when Jones beat Spencer by 4 percentage points. 

But, over Jones' first term, she has frustrated left-wing supporters with big raises for police officers, teardowns of homeless encampments, and her response to a rash of deaths at the City Justice Center downtown. And basic city services — like trash pickup, pothole filling and snow clearing — have struggled mightily amid staffing shortages yet to be fixed. Then in January, a snowstorm hit St. Louis, dropping ice, then snow. And the city’s efforts to deal with it were so poorly received that Jones publicly apologized.

Jones campaigned on the positives, things like a reduction in crime that included a 40% drop in the homicide rate from 2020 to 2024, still-pending investments on the North Side, and big planned developments downtown.

But in forums and on the airwaves, Spencer homed in on the problems with city services and concerns about corruption. And on Tuesday, voters responded at the polls.

Rachel Ruskin, 40, said she voted for Jones in 2021, too, and had high hopes. “I was looking forward to women, and especially women of color, being in leadership positions,� she said.

But she was frustrated by problems with snow removal and trash pickup, as well as Jones’ loyalty to Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner, who resigned under fire in 2023 after numerous allegations of incompetence and impropriety.

"I think she just dropped the ball on so many occasions,� Ruskin said. 

And this time, she voted for Spencer and Butler.

Jackson Hambrick, 32, of Tower Grove South, also flipped from Jones to Spencer. He said the January snowstorm response was emblematic of the problems he’d seen over the past four years. 

“The lack of urgency from the administration is the big one,� he said.

And after the polls closed, candidates and their supporters gathered to take in the results. 

Spencer, whose supporters gathered at the Block Inc. building on Tucker Boulevard, said her campaign attended 100 events in the last 30 days, "knocked on 20,000 doors," and is geared to "sprint to the finish in April."

She thanked supporters who "stood behind the message that there is a city at work for you."

Across town at the mayor's party at a union hall in Midtown, Jamala Rogers, longtime activist with the Organization for Black Struggle, was taken aback by the results.

“I’m surprised at the gap,� she said.

Aldermanic President Megan Green, one of the mayor’s closest allies, was more stoic. She noted that turnout was low — much lower than it was in the general election four years ago. And she said she could see a good portion of Butler voters consolidating under Jones in the general election, tightening the race.

“I don’t think all hope is lost,� she said. 

And Virvus Jones, the mayor's father and a former city comptroller, said the same thing as the mayor. 

“It ain't over," he said, “'til the fat lady sings.�