State Senate candidate, Wentzville Municipal Judge Mike Carter, is self-funding his campaign with a loan of half a million dollars.
“I don’t want to have any winks and nods or my hand in anybody's pockets or their hand in mine and that's why I'm not hesitant to throw some nickels into my own campaign,” he said. “If I’m elected, I can throw a fundraising party after and everybody can start paying back my loan.”
Carter previously had campaigned for the state Senate in 2016.
“I am a judge and an attorney,” Carter told the St. Louis Record. “We need more of them because they can understand the legislation that's being put together. When they pulled Wentzville into a new district, that is my stomping ground. I know I'm the favored candidate.”
He is also a former St. Louis Real Estate Board director and general counsel at Carshield in St. Charles.
“I still sell real estate a little bit,” Carter said. “I've been a licensed real estate broker since 1990 when I was 18 years old. My whole family has been in real estate since the 1950s. My father and grandfather were on the board. I mostly do real estate law and I get a broker's license automatically by virtue of my law license. I just have to keep it active.”
If elected, one of Carter’s priorities will be to stop the government from interfering with businesses.
“That's the beauty of President Trump, when he was in office, is that he wasn't a career politician,” he said. “He dealt with red tape, he wrote paychecks and balanced checkbooks so that he could keep businesses in place. I've done that for the better part of two decades at my law office, at Carshield, and even at the Wentzville courthouse where I'm directly in charge of everybody there. I'm no doubt a Trump Republican."
Competition however is steep. Six Republican candidates, including Carter, are gunning for the same seat in the 10th District, which encompasses not only Wentzville but also some parts of St. Charles County, Callaway County, Lincoln, and Pike counties.
Carter’s opponents include Rep. Travis Fitzwater (R-Holts Summit), Randy Pietzman (R-Troy), Jeff Porter (R-Montgomery City), former state Rep. Bryan Spencer (R-Wentzville), and Joshua Price of Mexico, Missouri, according to media reports.
“We've already sent out two mailers to 30,000 households,” Carter added. “We'll be doing some radio, and TV ads. It will be a big push. No one will be able to hang not in a six-person race. It's too tough. That's why I had to put my own money in. I will retire the debt later on after I'm in the office. I think the path is a carpet bombing.”
The primary election is Aug. 2.