Clarence Harmon was the forty-fourth mayor

Mayor

In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....

 of St. Louis

St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...

 (from 1997 to 2001), and the city's second African-American mayor.

Prior to serving as Mayor, Harmon had served as St. Louis Police Department

St. Louis Police Department

The Metropolitan Police Department, City of St. Louis is the principal law enforcement agency responsible for serving St. Louis City in the U.S. state of Missouri. The current chief is Colonel Daniel Isom....

 police chief. He defeated incumbent Mayor Freeman Bosley, Jr.

Freeman Bosley, Jr.

Freeman R. Bosley Jr. was the forty-third mayor of St. Louis , and the city's first African-American mayor.-Early life and education:...

 in the Democratic

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 Primary in 1997 and went on to win election by a wide margin in the general election

General election

In a parliamentary political system, a general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections.The term...

. Harmon was defeated for re-election in the 2001 Democratic Primary.