Powerful City Board Poised For First All-White Lineup In Decades

Four short years ago, Mayor Tishaura Jones’ inauguration marked the ascendance of the first Black woman to the position of city mayor. It also marked another first in city politics: an all-Black Board of Estimate and Apportionment. The board is made up of the Mayor, Comptroller and President of the Board of Aldermen, and it is the city’s highest budgetary decision-making body. If the winners of past Tuesday’s primary results carry the general, the city faces the prospect of going from an all-Black board to an all-white one in those same four years.

For much of St. Louis’s history, the board was all-white, reflecting the difficulties Black candidates had long faced in winning citywide office. This was finally broken by John Bass’ victory in the 1973 Democratic primary, when he defeated three opponents who effectively split the city’s white vote. Mr. Bass went on to serve as a State Senator, winning multiple elections to that seat. His eventual retirement made space for the political rise of William “Lacy” Clay Jr. on his way to eventually taking his father’s congressional seat.

After Bass’ term, the board then reverted to all–white control for some time. This ended with a political deal known as “The Swap”, which brought Mayor Jones’ father Virvus Jones to the Comptroller’s office in 1988. In “The Swap” the city’s Comptroller and Assessor switched jobs. Since that time, there has been at least one Black member of the board. Upon Virvus Jones’ 1995 guilty plea in a federal tax fraud case, Comptroller Darlene Green was selected by then-mayor Freeman Bosley Jr. From the beginning, Green was not a traditional politician. She had never run for office. Instead, her time in city hall had been spent serving as city budget director. It was quite the shift in tone, compared to her predecessor’s penchant for drama and controversy.

Since that time, Comptroller Green has largely run without serious opposition. Over the past few decades, the board has mostly had a 2/3rds Black majority. Former President of the Board of Aldermen Lewis Reed joined Comptroller Green as the second Black vote for a significant portion of this period. After Reed’s conviction on corruption charges and now-President of the Board of Aldermen Megan Green’s election, the board switched back to being 2/3rds majority-Black. This past Tuesday’s results showed Comptroller Green coming in a close second to former Alderman and State Representative Donna Baringer. When coupled with Ald. Spencer’s dominant showing in the mayoral primary, last Tuesday’s results raise the possibility of the first all-white board in almost four decades.

When contacted for their reaction, Organization for Black Struggle‘s Jamala Rogers said “The possibility that St. Louis could be looking at an all-white Board of E & A speaks to the influence of the MAGA message coming out of Washington, DC—the move to make America white again. It’s an undemocratic power grab that narrows who’s included instead of expanding the diversity of voices. The default to wealthy, white men running government, especially in a predominantly non-white world, must be made totally unacceptable in 2025. I’m committed to fighting for a multiracial democracy, not a white oligarchy.”

In the years since Virvus Jones took over the Comptroller office, the city has shifted from being majority-Black to its current white plurality. The past several years have also brought a noticeable uptick in the rate of Black households leaving the city. Tuesday’s results also showed Mayor Jones losing important support from white voters in the neighborhoods near Tower Grove Park. In 2021, these neighborhoods were a crucial part of the Jones campaign’s winning coalition and provided an important counterbalance to the more conservative white voters in the city’s vote-rich southwestern neighborhoods. These two trends have made it difficult for Mayor Jones to match her vote totals from 2021.

As the April general election nears, many volunteers and donors will likely have to decide to give their time and/or money to either Green or Jones. Only so many evenings and weekend days remain for knocking on voters’ doors. Similarly, many donors can only spare so much for political contributions. Organizations and unions will provide canvassing opportunities to support both in some city neighborhoods, but many volunteers will choose to contact individual campaigns about opportunities for canvassing and calling voters. Many may decide to give their weekends and evenings to the race they see as more winnable.

It is also worth noting that Comptroller Green spent much of the past year criticizing Mayor Jones. After the mayor’s poor showing in the primary, it is unclear that Comptroller Green would want to reposition herself significantly closer to the Jones campaign. This will likely limit the two campaigns’ ability to join forces.

In a few weeks, we will know if Mayor Jones and Darlene Green are able to bounce back from their March primary losses. If not, the current era of Black representation on the Board of Estimate and Apportionment will be bookended by Virvus Jones assuming the office of Comptroller and the end of his daughter’s term as mayor. It would be a significant turn of events for a city that has devoted so much time to civic conversations around racial equity and the importance of representation.

Author’s note: Readers interested in learning more about the history of the city’s political system are encouraged to read Lana Stein’s The Triumph of Tradition.

Disclosure: Author worked for both Ald. Cara Spencer and former President of the Board of Aldermen Lewis Reed on past campaigns.