SOUTH ST. LOUIS COUNTY — Katherine Pinner’s neighbors had no idea that she was running for the highest public office in ºüÀêÊÓƵ County government.
There were no signs anywhere in the county with Pinner’s name on them. Pinner, a self-described business consultant and author, didn’t fundraise or run any advertisements. She didn’t knock on their door to ask for their vote.
As far as Marian Thomas could tell, her quiet, friendly neighbor was going about her usual daily life walking her dog, going to work and mowing the lawn.
“We never talked about it,†said Thomas, 74, on Wednesday.
“It kind of surprised me. I didn’t know that she had any interest in doing that at all.â€
That changed Tuesday night when Pinner won a shocking upset against Republican state Rep. Shamed Dogan to secure the GOP nomination to face Democratic incumbent ºüÀêÊÓƵ County Executive Sam Page.
People are also reading…
Pinner, a political newcomer, handily defeated Dogan by a 12-point margin, capturing 56% of the vote, or 33,261 votes. Dogan received 26,029 votes. Pinner won without mounting much of a campaign at all.
Her victory over Dogan baffled Republican officials and most political observers who expected him to coast to victory. Dogan, a state representative since 2015, launched his campaign last year and raised more than $200,000 for his bid to try to become the first Republican executive in the heavily Democratic county in three decades. Page is heavily favored to win in November.
Dogan did not return phone calls requesting comment Wednesday. In a tweet thanking supporters, he said he was “a bit in shock.â€
He wasn’t alone.
“Everyone that I’m talking to is shocked,†said Rene Artman, chair of the ºüÀêÊÓƵ County Republican Central Committee. “The first thing you say ‘is how does this happen?’â€
Whatever the reasons for Dogan’s loss, Artman said, she was eager to get her party to rally around Pinner.
But there was just one problem. They’d never spoken.
Neither had Pinner and 3rd District Councilman Tim Fitch, one of three Republicans on the County Council. Fitch and 7th District Republican Mark Harder, who both represent the party’s base in west ºüÀêÊÓƵ County, had both endorsed Dogan.
“I did not know her name until she appeared on the ballot,†Fitch said. “But having a conversation with her is certainly something on my short list of things to do.â€
Pinner, reached by email Wednesday, asked for questions in writing but did not respond to requests for a phone interview.
Phone calls to a number listed for Pinner instead reached a employee of a major aircraft manufacturer in ºüÀêÊÓƵ who said he had no connection to her. Artman said she’d encountered the same problem trying to call Pinner. A reporter couldn’t reach Pinner at her home Wednesday afternoon.
Pinner appeared to have had no social media presence, or much public presence at all apart from an internet blog that she had set up previously to advertise her four self-published books.
Pinner, according to her website, is a native of ºüÀêÊÓƵ with a master’s degree in English. She has a consulting business, Greatest Moment LLC.
A daughter of Croatian immigrants, Pinner said her father fled a communist regime in his native country to seek refuge — and freedom — in the United States. That journey inspired two works of fiction Pinner has published.
On her , Pinner described a traditional Republican platform of lower taxes, support for law enforcement and economic freedom.
She disavowed campaign donations to “ensure that her allegiance is to the people of ºüÀêÊÓƵ County, not political action groups, special interest groups, and global agendas funded by out of state contributions.â€
The flyer said Pinner wanted to “return to our country’s core principles,†from the U.S. Constitution.
But elsewhere on her website, Pinner repeated false conspiracy theories that COVID-19 vaccines were part of a global scheme to control people by covertly inserting microchip into people’s bodies.
Thomas, one of Pinner’s neighbors, said she is a Democrat and on “totally different sides of the political spectrum†as Pinner.
The two met more than 20 years ago when Pinner first moved to the neighborhood, while they were both out walking their dogs, and while they weren’t close, they were friendly, Thomas said.
“She’s very nice, very quiet, very soft-spoken,†Thomas said. “She’s a very good neighbor.â€
Thomas said she had no idea who Dogan was. Neither did Matt Mikitin, another neighbor and a Republican.
Mikitin, 52, said he only learned Pinner was running for office when he voted in the primary.
“It’s pretty cool, I’m excited for her,†he said.
Mikitin said he and Pinner would often greet one another while out walking dogs or mowing the lawn. Told about her website Mikitin said he was excited to learn they had something in common. His grandfather also “escaped communism†from Penza, Russia, he said.
Mikitin said he wants to know Pinner’s stance on public education. While he supports scaling back taxes, he said, he doesn’t want to see any cuts to school funding. But he otherwise felt good about voting down ticket.
“I know that if she’s a Republican she leans the way I lean.â€