CLAYTON, Missouri — In an apparent about-face, Katherine Pinner plans to remain in the race to challenge incumbent St. Louis County Executive Sam Page this November.
Last week, St. Louis County Republican party officials claimed Pinner would be dropping out of the race. The political newcomer was unknown to party officials and had published wild conspiracy theories on her personal website.
In an updated blog post published Tuesday morning, Pinner wrote, "I am affirming my candidacy for the office of Saint Louis County Executive," and said, "To clarify, my name has appeared on the ballot consistently since February 22 which was the opening day for candidacy."
Pinner could not be reached to answer questions about her reversal and gave no explanation for the change of heart. Because she missed a deadline to withdraw from the election, Pinner would've incurred legal costs to go through the process to remove her name from the ballot.
In a statement issued last week, a spokesman for Sam Page's campaign suggested Republican party officials may have been trying to pressure her to drop out.
"I think her voters are going to hate it if a woman is bullied off the ballot," Page's campaign spokesman Richard Callow said.
Now that Pinner has reiterated her intention to stay in the race, Page's team says they won't take anything for granted.
"Ms. Pinner won the Republican primary decisively, getting almost as many votes for county executive as Eric Schmitt got for U.S. Senate," Callow said. "We take her candidacy seriously."