Paul Berry

Berry is an African American Republican from northwest St. Louis County who, according to his 2016 campaign press release, left the Democratic Party in the years before his first congressional run.[3] He ran for the Missouri House of Representatives in District 72 in 2012 as a Democrat, finishing third in the Democratic primary with about 11% of the vote.[2] Berry was the Republican nominee for the same seat in 2014 and lost the general election to incumbent Mary Nichols.[2]

In late 2015 Berry announced a Republican exploratory committee, and in 2016 he filed for Missouri's 1st Congressional District; he lost the August 2016 Republican primary to Steven Bailey.[3][2] He ran in the 2022 Republican primary for U.S. House Missouri District 2, finishing fourth with about 8.5% of the vote behind incumbent Ann Wagner, and in the 2024 Republican primary for Lieutenant Governor of Missouri, finishing sixth with about 2.7% of the vote; David Wasinger won that nomination.[2] On August 4, 2026, Berry won the Republican primary for Missouri's 1st District, defeating Andrew Jones Jr. 53.5% to 46.5%.[2] During the campaign, his website listed abortion opposition, gun rights, border security and school choice among its priorities.[1][2][3] Berry received 13.9% of the vote to Wesley Bell's 81.5%, according to unofficial results reported by NBC News.[4]