CLAYTON, Mo. – The Republican candidate for St. Louis County Executive says that her name will remain on the ballot. This was after Katherine Pinner told the Republican Central Committee last week that she would be withdrawing from the race.
Pinner missed the election board’s deadline to remove her name and needed a court petition to have it removed from the ballot. She beat former Missouri state Representative Shamed Dogan in August to secure the party’s nomination by just over 7,000 votes. The Republic Central Committee would not have been able to replace her with someone who was on the ballot.
However, Pinner announced Tuesday in a blog post that she was staying in the race.
The post read in part:
“…I am not a politician. I am a concerned citizen who is exercising a constitutional right to run for office…I am truly concerned with the direction the county and the country are headed…I believe in returning to our country’s core principles as outlined in the U.S. Constitution…”
Pinner staying in the race was on the county’s Republican Central Committee’s mind as they talk about state senate districts. Rene Artman, committee chairwoman said Pinner had called her last week saying an appearance at a young Republican event did not go well and Pinner thought it would be best that she drop out of the race.
“She had decided to get out,” Artman said. “I communicated with her back and forth over the weekend. This morning, I got a text message from her. She said she had been praying for guidance on what decision to make and that she had to be true to her God, to herself, and to the voters and that she was staying in the race. She earned that right. She got 33,000 plus votes (in the primary). She is on the ballot. She has decided not to withdraw.”
Democrats and Page said Republican leaders had bullied Pinner to get out of the race largely because of her inexperience. That couldn’t be farther from the truth, Artman said.
FOX 2 had reached out to Pinner to ask about the latest change but we did not receive a response.
To read the full blog post that Pinner posted Tuesday morning, click here.
