ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo.—Scott Ottenberg, a Wildwood City Council member, has launched a bid to challenge incumbent State Rep. Justin Sparks, in the August 6 GOP primary.

Sparks was nominated by the St. Louis County GOP Central Committee to run in 2022 when former State Rep. Bruce DeGroot announced he would not run in the general election after winning his primary.

The district includes parts of Wildwood and neighboring Clarkson Valley.

Ottenberg, an electrical engineer and sales executive, was appointed to Wildwood’s City Council in 2021 and was elected to a two-year term in 2022. In a recent interview with Spectrum News, Ottenberg pointed to two bills that preceded Sparks’ tenure– the 2021 gas tax increase and a 2022 bill that limited local government oversight of home-based businesses as two areas of concern for residents in Wildwood. 

In addition to revisiting the gas tax increase and simplifying the rebate process, Ottenberg said he’d also advocate for more funding for high speed internet access and money to address erosion.

He also criticized state lawmakers on both sides of the aisle for their “desk-pounding” but also called out members of the conservative Freedom Caucus, which counts Sparks as a founding member.

“As a conservative, I am not unsympathetic to their goals. I am sometimes with some of their tactics so at the end of the day when we are elected as legislators, whether it’s a state legislator that’s serving in Jefferson City or a city councilperson who’s serving in their local municipality, our residents expect us to get something done that makes their life easier, that makes their life better, so it’s fine to be outspoken but I guess I would rather be effective in getting something done,” he said.

Ottenberg said it was fair to describe himself as a social conservative when it comes to hot-button issues like gender identity, but argued that economic issues were more pressing.

“If people have trouble putting food on the table, if they have trouble putting gas in their car, if their businesses are struggling, if inflation is destroying their savings and their earning power then a lot of the social matters don’t really matter,” he said, adding that crime was another priority concern.

Sparks, a former St. Louis County police officer, agreed that economic issues are important, and was critical of the gas tax increase, but said he’s introduced legislation prohibiting transgender medical treatment for minors, and a bill that would ban taxpayer dollars to be used for reparations based on skin color because they speak to more fundamental issues facing society.

“These are American values that we’re losing and we will lose if we don’t fight for them now and so that’s why I put such importance on these things that I believe are fundamental to who we are and who we will be and the kind of country that we will leave and state that we will leave our children,” Sparks said. 

The Freedom Caucus has made headlines during the current legislative session primarily in the Senate, where Sparks says there’s more of a gap between those caucus members and Senate Republican leadership. In the House, Sparks believes there’s more agreement between the Freedom Caucus and the larger overall GOP conference.

“In the House, as you’ve seen, we don’t get into personality wars and call people names or anything like that. What we’re there for is to be that conservative North Star to kind of just remind everybody why we ran in the first place and why we are Republicans and why we believe our ideas are better than the other party,” Sparks said. “I feel like the House Freedom caucus’ job is to remind eachother that when it really does  come down to it, why we’re really here, is policy not personality, and we’re not always successful, but that’s our goal.”

Filing for the Aug. 6 primary opens Feb. 27. No Democrat has formed a campaign committee through the Missouri Ethics Commission that would allow them to begin fundraising or a campaign.