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ST. LOUIS — City voters signaled they were open to change in one of the city's most important offices, casting slightly more votes for challenger Donna Baringer than for longtime Comptroller Darlene Green in the city's primary race for her position.

Baringer, a former Democratic state representative and longtime alderwoman from the St. Louis Hills neighborhood, had nearly 48% of voters supporting her, or 16,664 votes, according to final unofficial results.

Green, who has been St. Louis' comptroller for 30 years, won support of just over 46% of voters, or 16,117.

A third candidate, Celeste Metcalf, who has worked as a certified public accountant, had 24% approval, or 8,541.

City voters can vote for as many candidates as they like in this round, so the percentages don't add up to 100%. The top two vote winners, Baringer and Green, will face off in the general municipal election on April 8.

After the results rolled in Tuesday night and it became clear Baringer would hold an edge in the final month of campaigning, she thanked her supporters and donors.

“All the hard work and effort, starting in September, going across the entire city of St. Louis, speaking to every neighborhood association, every person, has paid off,� Baringer told the Post-Dispatch. “I only believe there’s two ways to run. Scared and unopposed. And I ran scared, and I ran hard.�

Green said her campaign had momentum heading into the general election.

“I’m grateful for all the voters who voted for me and who came out for me in the rain,� she in a text message. “God Bless You!�

Baringer is the first serious challenger in decades for Green, who has largely faced political newcomers or no opponent at all since she was appointed to the post in 1995.

But Green appears to face some of the same anti-incumbent headwinds that Mayor Tishaura O. Jones is facing.

Several voters in Tower Grove South, a corner of south city that backed Jones over challenger Cara Spencer by over 15 points in 2021, said this time they were voting for Spencer and Baringer rather than the sitting officeholders.

Jackson Hambrick, 32, said Green "has done fine," but he was ready for a change in leadership, noting Baringer's endorsement from the St. Louis Young Democrats. 

The city's comptroller holds one of three votes, along with the mayor and aldermanic president, on the powerful Board of Estimate and Apportionment, which sets city budgets and must approve all city contracts. The office also runs the city's finance department and internal audit division.

Green has pointed to the relative health of the city's finances and improved credit rating as evidence of her fiscal stewardship. She has also avoided major scandals during her 30 years in office.

Voter Jerome Stringer, 69, said Green has proven herself an honest politician.

“In 30 years, she hasn’t stolen any money,� Stringer, of Tower Grove South, said outside Mann Elementary on Tuesday. “Leave well enough alone.�

But Baringer, who spent the last eight years in the Missouri House before being term limited, has been critical of operational issues in the comptroller's office. She criticized Green's management of the city's finance department, calling it understaffed and overwhelmed, and promised to ensure the city pays its bills on time.

Baringer questioned Green's work hours, pointing to Post-Dispatch reporting that the comptroller was often absent from City Hall, which Baringer said was "well known" when she was an alderwoman from 2003 through 2016. That, some former officials have said, has caused delays approving city contracts, which must be signed by the comptroller. 

Baringer has promised to look at trimming some of the comptroller office's functions, including moving the downtown Amtrak and Greyhound bus station, which the comptroller now oversees, to the city's transportation department. She also pledged to focus on improvements at St. Louis-Lambert International Airport, where the comptroller holds broad sway because of bond financing and her seat on the airport commission.

"The comptroller can hold up any development or change at that airport, and unfortunately, when you don't show up for work, when you have shown a pattern of, 'I will stop a development or something in its tracks, because I can,' that's not how you run a city," Baringer said in an interview last month. 

Metcalf, the accountant, ran on her experience in the private sector and state and local government. She planned to beef up the office's internal auditing division and ensure the city had proper accounting procedures in place to prevent waste and fraud.

Green's mailers told voters "Don't Trust Donna" and pointed to issues that largely resonate with Democratic voters, who dominate city politics. Green's campaign pointed to Baringer's 2015 vote at the board of aldermen against a city minimum wage hike and claimed she didn't publicly endorse Amendment 3, which ended Missouri's abortion ban.

Green has also distanced herself from Mayor Jones and criticized the administration's handling of a north St. Louis grant program, calling for a do-over. And she argues her opponent doesn't have the same experience guiding the city through lean budget times as she does.

"It's not like it's something that you can just pick up and do overnight," Green said in an interview last month. "It takes experience."