Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer and Democrat Bethany Mann won their primary elections Tuesday for Missouri's 3rd Congressional District.
Luetkemeyer and Mann will face each other in the Nov. 8 general election as no other candidates from other parties have filed to run.
With nearly 95 percent of precincts reporting, Luetkemeyer received 61,124 Republican votes (70.968 percent), followed by Brandon Wilkinson with 13,188 votes (15.312 percent) and Dustin Hill with 10,442 votes (12.124 percent). Richard Skwira Jr., a Republican candidate who was on the ballot but dropped out of the race in July, received 1,375 votes (1.596 percent).
Mann received 20,272 Democratic votes (61.047 percent), followed by Jon Karlen with 6,978 votes (21.014 percent), Andrew Daly with 4,870 votes (14.666 percent) and Dylan Durrwachter with 1,087 votes (3.273 percent).
"It's pretty incredible. I had no expectations going into the race," Mann said after the results came in. "I wanted to run a good race, speak truth to power, and encourage and lift up others, and I feel like I've done that so far."
"I'm really proud of my team -- I've got an amazing support system," she continued. "I could not have done any of this without my amazing husband, Carson, and my family. The real work starts tomorrow."
Vote totals are unofficial results from the Missouri secretary of state.
GOP primary campaigns
If retained by voters in November, Luetkemeyer will be serving his eight term representing the 3rd District. The St. Elizabeth native was first elected to the U.S. House in 2008.
Luetkemeyer's small business and agriculture background are central to his campaign and work in Congress, where he serves as ranking member of the House Committee on Small Business and Subcommittee on Consumer Protection. He's also a member of the House Financial Services Committee.
He ran for another term to further his progress on financial service issues and Missouri's water infrastructure, among other issues.
During the primary, Luetkemeyer faced challenges from two candidates dissatisfied with the status quo.
Hill, a Montgomery County Republican and Marine Corps veteran who served in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq, said he joined the race to restore confidence in the American economy and government.
Wilkinson, a Cedar Hill Republican and truck driver who earned 9 percent of the Republican vote in 2020, said he was running to demand transparency, accountability and common sense in Washington.
Dem primary campaigns
Mann, an environmental chemist and Brentwood mother, defeated three other Democrats for the chance to run against Luetkemeyer.
Mann said she's running to make progress in areas she says the state is falling behind, such as economic support for the middle class, public education, infrastructure and broadband, and bargaining rights for workers and farmers.
Karlen, a software engineer from O'Fallon, said he decided to run for the nomination after watching the Republican-led federal government's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and reproductive rights.
"I just decided that it was a better use of my time and energy to actually put my name on the ballot than to help others get elected," he said. "I consider myself a very capable person. I've had a 25-plus-year successful career in software development, and I decided it was time to put my capabilities in forefront and try to get myself elected."
Daly, an activities director at the Missouri School for the Deaf in Fulton, said he joined the race to provide Missourians higher quality education, better wages and greater equality.
Daly, who was born deaf and uses American Sign Language to communicate, said too many lawmakers make changes based on their own accord, but he would have relied on the district to identify specific issues of interest.
Durrwachter, of St. Peters, did not respond to requests to be interviewed.
See additional primary election coverage at https://www.newstribune.com/election/.
Blaine Luetkemeyer