"Wait but didn't he say he was running again like two weeks ago?" -Everyone
As you probably know by now, Francis Slay, the longest-serving mayor in St. Louis history, won’t run for a fifth term.
That’s surprising for a couple of reasons: He still has a hefty campaign fund. He’s told reporters recently that he’d run again. And the city’s political scene just kind of *assumed* Slay would still be around after next year.
See also: St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay Will Not Run for Re-election
Slay announced the end of his mayoral career in a hastily thrown-together press conference Friday morning. He didn’t take questions from reporters. That means there are still lots of unanswered questions about the political futures of Slay and the city he’s led for years.
In the meantime, everyone’s just...surprised. Here are the seven stages of shock everyone who follows St. Louis politics went through today:
1. We forget basic things, like how to form sentences.
2. We look around to see if we’re the only ones who are this surprised.
3. We wonder what changed.
4. We get suspicious.
5. We say thanks.
6. We ask who’ll fill his shoes.
7. We remember our priorities.
This is St. Louis, after all. Have fun at the Cardinals home opening game on Monday, STL!
Contact Lindsay Toler by an email at LToler@stlmag.com or on Twitter @StLouisLindsay. For more from St. Louis Magazine, subscribe or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
