Politics & Government

Burns Defeats Montecillo in "Ugly" Primary Race for District 93

The 93rd District represents parts of Lemay and Affton; Bob Burns received 61 percent of the vote.

This story was updated at 12:30 on Wednesday with comments from Bob Burns. 

When called to congratulate him on the Democratic nomination in Tuesday's primary, the conversation lasted less than 30 seconds. 

Burns won by  and will face Republican Tony Leech in November, who ran unopposed in the primary. 

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"I just called Bob Burns and congratulated him on a win and wished him good luck, and he said 'Ok Joe, thanks,'" Montecillo said. "It's been a really ugly campaign."

"The only things that were negative were perpetrated by him," Burns said. "I didn't want to give him any name recognition in the area, so didn't mention my opponent by name once during the race." 

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Burns  as filing for that seat stayed open a little longer after state 

Burns was  in the effort . He has served on the Affton School Board, worked as a staffer for Claire McCaskill and previously ran for the state House in the 2000s, losing narrowly to then-state Rep. Jim Lembke (R-Lemay). 

Montecillo—ex-husband of state Rep. Genise Montecillo (D-Affton)—is an attorney that ran for his first political office. 

After the loss, Montecillo said he was "really worried" about politics in South County. 

"We have a state representative in my ex-wife that doesn't participate as a regional person anymore and we have a Democratic nominee in the form of Bob Burns who doesn't come to his township meetings anymore," Montecillo said. "These people need to grow up."

Burns, who has lived in the district since 1969, said he didn't go to the Lemay Township Democratic meetings because they've become a "backstabbing, political, under-handed group with only eight to 10 people attending the meetings."

Burns said he's stayed involved in the community and co-chaired the committee to bring River City Casino to Lemay, which has and . 

"This guy has got the audacity to say that I'm not involved in the community; I'm going to continue to be positive and work for the good of the community," Burns said. "They chose me and put their faith and trust in me and I'm going to pay them back 10-fold."


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