Steven Wyatt Earp, a former political consultant convicted of felony theft in 2009, is back on the ballot and back in the spotlight. Earp has filed to run for the Jefferson County Council District 7 seat, putting his criminal record and long-running St. Louis political connections squarely in front of local voters as the 2026 primary cycle ramps up.
The official Jefferson County candidate list shows that Earp submitted paperwork on Feb. 24 to run for County Council District 7, and his name now appears on the District 7 slate. According to Jefferson County, Earp filed earlier this year and remains listed among the county’s official filings.
Earp’s record is not a mystery to anyone who followed St. Louis politics in the 2000s. A St. Louis jury convicted him in February 2009 on two felony counts tied to an April 2006 St. Louis Community College campaign fund. Prosecutors said investigators found the campaign committee had paid Earp more than $500,000 and that he overbilled the group by hundreds of thousands of dollars. Call Newspapers reported at the time that the jury recommended an 11-year sentence.
Authorities first arrested Earp in 2007 after questions surfaced about the campaign committee’s accounting. Associated Press coverage, republished by St. Louis Public Radio, said prosecutors alleged he used campaign funds to buy luxury cars and an engagement ring. Those early reports, combined with the later conviction, form the core of Earp’s public record in the region.
Stenger Connection Adds Political Heat
Earp’s decision to run also revives old associations with St. Louis County political players. His family and professional ties have linked him with people who worked in the orbit of former St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger, a name that still carries political baggage after a high-profile federal case.
The U.S. Department of Justice documents that Stenger pleaded guilty in 2019 to federal pay-to-play charges and received a 46-month prison sentence in a case that focused attention on patronage and contracting in county government. As the Department of Justice put it, prosecutors said Stenger “abused his power as an elected official to benefit himself.”
For voters in Jefferson County, those lingering associations guarantee that Earp’s candidacy will not fly under the radar. His name comes with a paper trail, and it is one that stretches across county lines and into federal court filings involving one of the St. Louis region’s most notorious recent political scandals.
What Missouri Law Means For A Candidate With A Record
Missouri law attaches lasting civil consequences to felony convictions. Convicted felons can lose the right to vote, the ability to hold public office and the ability to serve on juries unless those civil rights are later restored, pardoned or otherwise removed. That framework means that past felony convictions can raise eligibility questions for candidates, depending on whether their civil rights have been formally restored.
The Collateral Consequences Resource Center outlines Missouri’s restoration process and the legal disabilities that can follow a conviction. Those rules provide the backdrop for any scrutiny of Earp’s bid for office, even if the fine print remains largely invisible to most voters skimming the ballot.
So far, Jefferson County’s filings include Earp’s paperwork, and the county has not indicated a formal challenge to that filing. That leaves eligibility and fitness for office as likely talking points for opponents, activists and voters as the campaign moves forward.
Jefferson County maintains the official election calendar and candidate filing information on its website. The county lists the 2026 primary and keeps updated filings publicly available. Jefferson County also posts the candidate filing rules and the election schedule for the upcoming cycle, giving residents a clear look at who is stepping into the ring, and when.
