St. Louis Alderwoman Cara Spencer will run for St. Louis Mayor against Tishaura Jones

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - St. Louis Alderwoman Cara Spencer announced Thursday that she is running for St. Louis Mayor again for the second time.

"Everywhere we look, the city is failing to do it's most basic jobs," Spencer wrote in an email to her supporters and on her website. "Too many of the promises that were made three years ago haven't been fulfilled. That's why, after much encouragement, I have decided to run for Mayor."

Spencer has been a member of the Board of Aldermen since 2015, defeating longtime incumbent Craig Schmid. During her time as a member of the Board of Aldermen, Spencer represented Ward 20 form 2015-2023 and since 2023, she has represented Ward 8.

Spencer will challenge incumbent Tishaura Jones, who is set to complete her first-term as St. Louis Mayor. Jones and Spencer fought in a highly contested battle back in 2021, with Jones edging out Spencer by only 2,304 votes in the general election. The next Mayor election is set for 2025.

Spencer joined Chris Rongey and Amy Marxkors on The Chris and Amy Show right after the announcement, saying that plenty of people around her have urged her to run again.

"The city is at a crossroads here as we are seeing population loss that is happening at a unprecedented rate, our budget as we are contemplating it right now does not fully staff our Refuse Department and with population loss we are seeing right now, we're not going to be able to do the basic job of a city government," said Spencer. "We got to change course or this isn't going to work."

Spencer says many of the issues she ran on back in 2021 has seem to have gotten worst since then, believing the city is failing to focus on even basic issues like trash collecting and filling up potholes.

"When you are not getting the basic's right, from the streets, the trash, and etc., you can't expect businesses to thrive and you can't expect your taxpayers to stick around," said Spencer.

Spencer will have a campaign kickoff party on June 4 at the The Post Building on 900 North Tucker Boulevard.