ST. ANN 鈥 Katherine Pinner shocked the 狐狸视频 County Republican Party once this month when she won its primary nomination for county executive. Now she may again.
Late Thursday, she told the party chair that she would drop out of the race.
鈥淵ou can鈥檛 make this stuff up,鈥 said the chair, Rene Artman.
Artman said Pinner called her Thursday night with the news. Pinner was very upset about something, but didn鈥檛 go into details. Attempts to reach Pinner for comment on Thursday and Friday were unsuccessful.
The news marks an apparent coda to a whirlwind of a month for both Pinner and the party 鈥 and poses a potential obstacle for incumbent County Executive Sam Page, a Democrat previously expected to coast to victory against the no-name opponent in a blue county.
Pinner came out of nowhere to beat Shamed Dogan, a tenured state representative from Ballwin, in the GOP primary earlier this month. She had no yard signs, no fundraising, no social media presence 鈥 just a personal website advertising her books on its homepage. Not even her neighbors knew she was running.
People are also reading…
Meanwhile, Dogan launched a full campaign, hired professional campaign consultants, and raised more than $200,000 to try to beat the odds and become the county鈥檚 first Republican executive in three decades.
None of it mattered. She beat him by 12 percentage points and sent the party and county politics scrambling. At first, Artman didn鈥檛 even know how to get in touch with her.
Her website offered a few details. She said she grew up in south 狐狸视频, had Croatian heritage, and worked as a consultant for various businesses in addition to writing books. Her platform sounded like that of many Republicans: lower taxes, support law enforcement, get back to the Constitution and the country鈥檚 鈥渇ounding principles.鈥 She also repeated a conspiracy theory about COVID-19 vaccines containing microchips that could be used to control people.
Everything changed this week. On Monday, she filed a handwritten, pro se lawsuit against the American Association of Orthodontists, which she said forced her to resign by requiring her to either wear a mask or get vaccinated for COVID-19. She said such requirements went against her religion, and linked masks to 鈥渟atanic ritual abuse.鈥
Then on Wednesday, she went on the radio for an interview with McGraw Milhaven, a host on KTRS (550 AM). There, she dodged initial questions on how she managed to win, calling her strategy her 鈥渟ecret sauce,鈥 and spent the rest of the conversation refusing to answer questions about the lawsuit.
When Millhaven pressed her on it, she hung up on him. 鈥淭hat wasn鈥檛 even the hardest question I was going to ask her,鈥 Millhaven later said. 鈥淚 wanted to ask if she was a plant by the Democrats.鈥
That same day, Pinner went to her first 狐狸视频 County Republican Central Committee meeting as a candidate. Committeemen said it was also her first time ever at a meeting. The idea was to allow members to ask questions and get to know her, hear her plan to beat Page in the fall, and see how the party could help.
But she wouldn鈥檛 say what her campaign strategy was, said Anne Gassel, a West County committeewoman.
Her refusal to share the 鈥渟ecret sauce鈥 confounded party officials with many years of experience working and volunteering on campaigns.
鈥淚t was almost as if there was a language barrier,鈥 Gassel said.
The same thing appeared to happen a day later, at a 狐狸视频 County Young Republicans meeting where one attendee got fed up with the lack of details.
鈥淲e can鈥檛 just go on the fact that you have a pretty name,鈥 the woman told Pinner, in a video from , an online news network. 鈥淲e need to know what鈥檚 going on to help you.鈥
Shortly after that, Pinner called Artman, the county party chair, and said she was getting out.
Artman guessed that it might all have been too much for Pinner. 鈥淲hen she won, she was as surprised as any of us,鈥 Artman聽said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think she knew, totally, what was going to happen. Maybe she was overwhelmed by it.鈥
Rick Stream, the Republican director of the county elections board, said the next step would be for Pinner to file a petition in court to remove her name from the ballot. After that, the county party would have two weeks to issue a call for new candidates, interview them, and make a new nomination.
The chatter about how who might take Pinner鈥檚 place is already well underway. Names being floated include Mark Mantovani, who ran as a Democrat against Page in 2020 and County Councilman Tim Fitch, one of Page鈥檚 fiercest critics. Dogan called the Post-Dispatch and said he wouldn鈥檛 rule out another shot, either.
But Stream, the elections director, said Dogan is ineligible since he lost the primary. And for now, it鈥檚 all academic.
County election officials said they hadn鈥檛 heard anything from Pinner as of 5 p.m. Friday.
Nassim Benchaabane of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.