CLAYTON — The Republican nominee for St. Louis County executive is dropping out of the race after all.
Katherine Pinner filed Friday morning to have her name removed from the ballot with St. Louis County Courts, according to court spokesman John O’Sullivan.
Pinner told party officials she was dropping out late last week but then said in a blog post Monday she was staying in because she felt she needed to uphold her “commitment to God, to myself, and to the voters.”
“I wish Katherine nothing but the best,” said Rene Artman, the chair of the St. Louis County Republican Party. “And now we have to find a candidate.”
Pinner could not immediately be reached for comment, but wrote in a blog post she decided to drop out in part because “traditional campaigning and financing do not correspond to my core values.” She also cited “personal items” as a reason.
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“I hope for a candidate who can hit the ground running with critical items currently facing the County,” Pinner wrote.
County Republican leaders have until Sept. 13 to pick a replacement, according to Rick Stream, the Republican director of the county elections board. Artman said they’ll move as quickly as possible to give the new nominee time to campaign ahead of the Nov. 8 election.
The county Republican central committee’s first step is to gather a list of candidates. Then the committee will hold a public meeting to interview candidates. That’s expected to happen next week. Finally, they’ll take a private vote on a nominee.
Artman said she’s accepting resumes but doesn’t have a list of candidates yet.
After Pinner threatened to drop out the first time, names began circulating among county Republicans about who could replace her. One of the names was Republican County Councilman Tim Fitch, whose term ends the last day of the year. Fitch said earlier this week he wouldn’t run to replace her on the ballot.
Another name was Shamed Dogan, the state representative from Ballwin whom Pinner defeated in a surprise primary victory in August. Missouri law prohibits a candidate who lost in a primary from running in the General Election, according to Stream.
Dogan declined to comment Friday, but in an interview with the Post-Dispatch earlier this week said the law could be up for legal interpretation if a losing candidate from the same party is seeking to replace a nominee who dropped out.
It won’t matter if the GOP doesn’t want to nominate Dogan, said Michael Jones, a longtime political adviser from St. Louis.
“Whoever it is, they’ve got a challenge,” Jones said.
Meantime, the campaign for Democratic incumbent Sam Page will “leave a blank on the campaign mail,” said campaign spokesman Richard Callow.
“We’ll fill it in if they settle on a new candidate who actually stays in the race,” Callow said.
Pinner was an unconventional candidate from the start. Republican leaders in the county paid her little attention prior to her win, and then she declined their offers of assistance in her campaign ahead of the General Election. She didn’t raise any money, have a social media presence or post yard signs. Only Pinner’s personal website, home to her blog, made mention of her candidacy.
Early last week, Pinner filed a lawsuit against her former employer for discrimination, alleging she was fired because she refused to wear a mask or get vaccinated for COVID-19. She said wearing masks violates her religion because they’re linked to “satanic ritual abuse.”
Pinner has thwarted questions from the press and even members of her own party. At two Republican meetings last week, she refused to answer questions about her campaign strategy. She also dodged questions from a radio show host on KTRS (550 AM), calling her strategy a “secret sauce.”
Pinner’s withdrawal from the race, filed Friday morning, was ordered by St. Louis County Circuit Court Judge Dean P. Waldemer.
Taylor Tiamoyo Harris of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.