Former Democrat Mark Mantovani officially filed Tuesday morning as the Republican candidate for St. Louis County Executive.
That took place after Mantovani was selected as the new GOP candidate by St. Louis County Republican leaders. Mantovani arrived at the St. Louis County Board of Elections office in St. Ann just after 9:30 a.m. with a Republican Party leader to officially place his name on the ballot.
We were the only news crew there as Mantovani filled out his paperwork. Mantovani will now square off against incumbent Democrat Sam Page in November.
The St. Louis County Republican Central Committee announced that Mantovani would be their new candidate after a closed-door vote during a meeting Monday night in Fenton.
The 68-year-old Mantovani is a retired marketing business executive. He has run twice unsuccessfully for County Executive as a Democrat, narrowly losing to Steve Stenger in 2018 and then losing again to Sam Page in 2020.
Mantovani talked about unifying St. Louis County after he officially became a candidate.
“My objective is to try to bring this county together,” Mantovani said. “Both times I’ve sought this office before I’ve had support across the aisle from both Republicans and Democrats. The distinction between the parties frankly is less important to me than perhaps some other people because my goal is to work with everybody in the region.”
Mantovani replaces Katherine Pinner as the Republican candidate for County executive. Pinner was a surprise winner in the August Republican Primary, but she announced at the beginning of September that she was dropping out of the race.
Election officials told us Mantovani’s name will appear first on the ballot because there is a republican governor in office.
Absentee ballots start going out in two weeks. Election Day is eight weeks from Wednesday.
Page Campaign Spokesperson Richard Callow spoke on Mantovani being the new Republican candidate for St. Louis County Executive.
“Over the next two months, the campaigns will make clear the real differences in temperament between the candidates in protecting the reproductive health of County residents and in supporting organized labor,” Callow said. “But for tonight, it is comforting to know that both the Democratic and Republican nominees for St. Louis County Executive voted for Joe Biden for President.”
