Meet the Republicans running for southwest Missouri's District 29 seat

Sen. Mike Moon and newcomer Susan Haralson are vying for the Republican nomination in this August's upcoming election for Missouri Senate District 29, which includes Barry, Christian, Lawrence and McDonald counties.

The Democratic candidate for the District 29 seat is Ron Monnig, who is running uncontested in the primary. The Eagle Rock resident wants to "make things easier for area families, not use (their) lives to score political points," according to his website.

Who is Mike Moon?

Website: mikemoonformissouri.com

Who is he? Moon is a North Carolina native, but moved to Missouri after attending Baptist Bible College and then Southwest Missouri State University, which is now Missouri State University. For 27 years, he worked in marketing for Mercy Hospital. He lives in Lawrence County with his wife, Denise, and raises cattle. They have five children and six grandchildren. Mike Moon is also a deacon and Sunday School teacher at High Street Baptist Church in Springfield.

Moon is a Republican from Ash Grove and has been the District 29 senator since 2020. Before serving in the Missouri Senate, Moon represented the 157th District in the Missouri House from 2013 to 2020.

What has he done previously? Moon co-sponsored the Missouri Stands for the Unborn Act in 2019, which was also referred to as a "trigger law," that prohibits abortion except in the instance of a medical emergency. It was signed into law in 2019. In 2022, that law went into effect when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

Moon was also the sponsor of the Save Adolescents from Experimentation Act, which was signed into law in June 2023 and prohibits medical providers from performing gender confirmation surgeries on minors as well as from prescribing cross-sex hormones or puberty blockers.

He has sponsored bills that cut income tax, eliminate sales tax on food, eliminate preronal property taxes and real estate taxes.

What does he want to do if re-elected? Moon has expressed a desire to introduce the FairTax to Missouri, which is a tax based on property and services one buys instead of income, payroll, estate and gift taxes. In an interview with Elijah Haahr, Moon said he is "working with someone," declining to specify who, "to put together a plan that hopefully will whet the appetites of people."

On his website, Moon says he also defends the Second Amendment, which is the people's right to bear arms and that he wants to protect the state from "an over-reaching federal government."

Who is Susan Haralson?

Website: haralsonforsenate.com

Who is she? Haralson was born in California but moved to Ozark with her family at a young age. She graduated from School of the Ozarks, which is now College of the Ozarks. She spent time in radio and broadcast news until purchasing a small homecare agency in 1992, which is still running. Haralson lives in Ozark with her husband, Shannon. They have one son and one grandson. She serves on the Ozark Chamber Board of Directors, CC 100 Club Board, Rotary Zone Communications team, National Day of Prayer, is a member of Springfield Sunrise Rotary Club, and serves on the stewardship committee at her church.

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Why is she running? According to her website, Haralson wants to restore common sense in Jefferson City.

What does she want to do if elected? On her website, Haralson says, "As an entrepreneur & community leader, I want to build on the principles of freedom, economic opportunity, strong families, moral values, protecting the innocent, and personal responsibility.” Her priorities are common-sense accountability, improved health care, world-class education, creating community-supporting jobs and "protecting our way of life."

Haralson says she will demand better management of government agencies, fight to reduce regulations resulting in lower health insurance costs and fight to bring back jobs from China. She supports the a Parents' Bill of Rights and increased state funding to local schools. Haralson also supports community colleges, technical schools and vocational education for workforce development. To protect "our way of life," she supports funding police and "common-sense laws" that protect children and families.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Missouri primary election: Republicans run for Senate District 29 seat