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ST. LOUIS — For the first time in 30 years, St. Louis will have a new leader in the powerful comptroller’s office.

With just over 49,000 votes cast, challenger Donna Baringer, a former Democratic state representative and alderwoman from St. Louis Hills, beat longtime incumbent Darlene Green, 51.5% to 48.5%.

When the results came in just after 9 p.m. Tuesday at Baringer’s watch party at the Dogwood event space in the Grove, someone shouted, “Madame Comptroller!”

“I almost can’t breathe,” Baringer said, as her family members, including the household dog, surrounded her on stage.

Baringer worked for months to build up enough support to topple Green, an incumbent who has faced just one strong challenger since 1995. With a base of support in the high-turnout neighborhoods of southwest St. Louis, Baringer collected small-dollar donations from those unhappy with Green while also tapping into support from car dealerships, developers and the St. Louis Police Officer’s Association.

“I will be there,” Baringer told her supporters after the race was called, a reference to the open secret in City Hall that Green was often absent from the office. “I love my city. I love my region.”

The race was expected to be close. Baringer won the March primary by just 532 votes out of more than 41,000 cast. Early results in that contest gave Baringer a roughly 10-point lead, but Green largely closed that gap as election-day votes rolled in later that evening.

However, the March primary also whittled the race down, eliminating political newcomer Celeste Metcalf, a CPA and accountant who drew some 8,500 votes in the first round. Metcalf then endorsed Baringer and criticized Green for firing her in 2019 from an auditing job in the comptroller’s office.

Green again closed the gap Tuesday, but couldn’t overcome Baringer’s large early lead from voters who cast ballots before election day.

In a statement late Tuesday night, Green thanked her supporters and said she "was grateful for the opportunity to have served the people in the city that I love with integrity and dignity."

"Even though we didn't get victory this time," Green said, "we move forward with hope."

The office is one of the most important in city government. Along with the mayor and board of aldermen president, the comptroller holds one of three votes on the Board of Estimate and Apportionment, which must approve all city spending and contracts. The office also runs the city’s internal audit division and must sign off on all city contracts.

Baringer was the most significant challenger Green has faced since her first electoral win in 1996, a year after she was appointed to fill a vacancy left by the resignation of Virvus Jones.

Green ran on the city’s relative fiscal health, good credit rating and a record largely devoid of scandals. Many voters agreed there was no reason to fire her.

“Darlene Green’s been in that seat for a while and she hasn’t failed us yet,” Teijuania Finley, of the Wells-Goodfellow neighborhood, said Tuesday outside Friendly Temple Church.

Baringer argued it was time for a change after 30 years, pointing to delays paying bills and payroll errors due to operational issues in the comptroller’s office, as well as Green’s frequent absence from City Hall.

“She can go,” John Hill, a 65-year-old retired city firefighter said outside the polling place at Mann Elementary School in Tower Grove South, said of Green. “Some of these politicians, they’ve been in office too long.”

Dan Henroid, a Lindenwood Park resident who volunteered for Baringer’s campaign, said he got to know Baringer while she was his state representative and always liked her accessibility. He said he voted for Green in the past.

“I think we just learned a little bit more this time around,” he said.

Baringer said the first order of business would be to restaff an office that is down dozens of positions, including by luring back former employees who left under Green, and modernize its operations. Among those huddling with Baringer after her win as they began to contemplate a transition when she takes office in just seven days was Jim Garavaglia, a former deputy comptroller Green fired in 2019, surprising many in City Hall.

Other notable officials at Baringer’s party included Rep. Steve Butz, who served with Baringer in the House, and Mary Ellen Ponder, a former chief of staff to both Mayor Francis Slay and megadonor Rex Sinquefield. Former Convention and Visitors Commission chief Kitty Ratcliffe also made an appearance, as did Board of Alderman President Megan Green’s operations chief, Christine Ingrassia.

Once in office, Baringer said she would focus on projects at St. Louis Lambert International Airport, including working with legislators in Jefferson City to fund upgrades.

“We have to make sure we don’t put any hurdles in place,” Baringer said. “I will be a hands-on airport commissioner at every meeting doing whatever I need to do to make sure we have the airport we need in the city.”

Green warned of Baringer’s lack of experience in accounting and said she wanted to rid the city of the office altogether. Baringer denied that.

The race later turned to issues important to the Democratic Party base that makes up the vast majority of the city electorate. Green criticized Baringer for two 2017 votes in the state legislature in favor of Republican-backed bills regulating abortion and a 2015 vote as alderwoman against a city-only minimum wage hike. Green’s campaign also highlighted Baringer’s 2023 vote in favor of a state takeover of the St. Louis Police Department, a hot topic in the city now that the GOP-dominated Missouri legislature just succeeded in passing the measure.

Baringer’s vote in Jefferson City to return the police department to control of a board mostly appointed by the governor turned off John Regenbogen of Tower Grove South, who voted for Green.

“There’s no place in the city of St. Louis for elected officials that don’t support local control,” he said.

Sinquefield, the libertarian-leaning political donor, appeared to send Baringer some last-minute campaign help. On March 31, he donated $15,000 to a political action committee, Pulse PAC, that the next day paid for $15,000 in mailers criticizing Green’s management. The mailers would have landed in mailboxes just before election day.

Pulse PAC also accepted a recent $10,000 donation from the Missouri Leadership Forum, which accepts funds from large Missouri businesses like Drury Development and Warrenton Oil. The Leadership Forum also donated to Alderwoman Cara Spencer’s campaign for mayor.

Sinquefield was the main backer of privatizing St. Louis Lambert International Airport, which Green strongly opposed before the city abandoned the idea in 2019.