A Missouri mayor publicly criticized her white voters, accusing them of turning their backs on Black women in leadership after voting her out in favor of a new, white candidate.
Tishaura Jones, the former St. Louis mayor, suffered a staggering 28-point defeat to Mayor Cara Spencer last month, marking one of the worst losses for an existing mayor in the city’s last 50 years, St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
However, the 53-year-old politician blamed her loss to racial bias amongst her voters, accusing them of booting her from office because she is Black.
‘I think St. Louis needs to have a conversation with itself about why it no longer trusts Black women to lead,’ Jones said in an interview with St. Louis Public Radio on Thursday.
‘My dad always told me – and it’s an old phrase – that Black women have to work twice as hard to get half as much,’ she added.
‘Well, I feel like we work five times as hard and get nothing in return.’
Just four years ago, voters from St. Louis’s north side and its white progressive neighborhoods rallied behind Jones, propelling her into the mayor’s office.
Fast forward to last month’s re-election, and Jones’ voter base had ultimately crumbled – white progressive neighborhoods that once championed her shifted their support to Spencer, the very candidate Jones defeated in 2021.
Explanations for the shift varied – disappointment in her activist base, missteps with grant programs, etc.
However, voters on both the north and south sides repeatedly voiced frustration with Jones’ handling of basic city services – from trash pickup to pothole repairs – as well as her response to the massive snowstorm that hit the state in January.
What may have swayed voters was Spencer’s straightforward yet resonant promise to St. Louis: a swift return ‘back to basics’, Post-Dispatch reported.
Yet Jones believes that even her Black voter base on the north side turned away from her, claiming they held unrealistic expectations during her four years in office.
Hellbound and Down 