Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer and Democrat Megan Rezabek won their primary elections Tuesday to represent Missouri's 3rd Congressional District.
Luetkemeyer and Rezabek will face each other as well as Libertarian candidate Leonard Steinman, who ran unopposed in the primary, in the November general election.
Luetkemeyer received 82.02 percent of the Republican votes (11,674), followed by Brandon Wilkinson with 9.57 percent (1,359), Lynette Trares with 3.87 percent (539), Adela Wisdom with 2.93 percent (414), and Jeffrey Nowak with 1.61 percent (229).
Rezabek received 71.72 percent of the Democratic votes (2,678), and Oglesby received 28.28 percent (1,044).
Steinman received 43 Libertarian votes.
Rezabek, of Imperial, has worked in the medical field and is currently a maintenance worker for building maintenance. She is a political activist, and she has been a campaign manager in previous congressional races.
"I'm just part of the working poor that has a perspective that I think a lot of our current politicians don't have, so they don't care as much as someone who's been through the same struggles as the working class," she said.
One of Rezabek's top issues is workers' rights, and she said she believes we need a higher minimum wage and more unionization.
"We need better safety nets for working people because COVID has shown us, if you lose your job, you can lose your health care, and during a pandemic is the worst possible time for that."
Rezabek also supports the Green New Deal and wants to focus on addressing climate change. She would also like to focus on justice reform that protects people of color and campaign finance reform that keeps money out of politics.
"I didn't take a single donation in my campaign run, and it was completely self-funded," she said. "I think that we need to show the people that it is easier to run than they think and that they can do it without having money and having to beg people for money."
This would be Luetkemeyer's seventh term to represent Missouri's 3rd District. Luetkemeyer, of St. Elizabeth, was first elected in 2008 after serving in the Missouri House of Representatives and as director of the Missouri Division of Tourism.
He has a background in agriculture and business and has been in the banking and insurance industry for more than 30 years. He has also served as a bank regulator for the state of Missouri.
"We're excited to have won the race, and I look forward to November," he said Tuesday night. "Hopefully, the Republicans take the House back this November and we'll be in the majority, and then I'll be able to, perhaps, chair some committees and be able to have even more influence to be able to be more helpful to my constituents and a great citizen of the state of Missouri."
Luetkemeyer serves on the House Financial Services Committee and as ranking member of the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Financial Institutions. He is also a member of the Select Committee on the Coronavirus Crisis.
Luetkemeyer said he decided to run for another term because he believes he needs to continue the work he's doing, especially on river issues and investing in water resource infrastructure as well as financial service issues such as banking, credit unions, insurance and housing.
The 3rd District stretches from the far western and southern suburbs of St. Louis west to the Lake of the Ozarks area.