Jason Bean and Rep. Mike Moon won a pair of GOP Senate nominations Tuesday.
Bean won SD 25 by a wide margin, gaining 46 percent of the vote by the time polls closed. The runner up in the four-man race, Rep. Jeff Shawan, ended the night at 20 percent and behind Bean by more than 7,000 votes.
Former Rep. Steve Cookson and local party chairman Eddy Justice were contenders in the race as well, coming up with 15 and 17 percent of the vote, respectively.
Shawan looked like an early favorite, but as more candidates entered the race, the dynamics shifted and campaigning got aggressive, leading The Missouri Times to list it as the second hottest Senate race of the year.
Bean is the son of former state Rep. Ot Bean and works as a farmer.
Shawan has represented HD 153 since 2018 and has been a business owner for more than 20 years. Cookson served in the Missouri House from 2011 to 2017 after a career in education. Justice has worked as a State Farm agent for over 20 years.
SD 25 covers Butler and Stoddard counties. Sen. Doug Libla, who represents the area now, is term-limited.
Bean went into Tuesday with $12,000 cash on hand with Shawan claiming nearly $22,000. Justice reported more than $53,000 cash on hand, and Cookson went in with no funds reported.
Meanwhile in SD 29, Moon won the nomination where outgoing Sen. David Sater is bound by term limits. Moon grabbed the nomination with a five-point lead over David Cole, winning by more than 1,500 votes.
Moon was elected in 2013 to represent HD 157, a position he terms out of this year. He is also a farmer and spent almost 30 years in marketing. Cole is a small business owner and farmer living in Barry County.
Moon reported nearly $3,000 cash on hand and almost $4,000 through the Table Rock Conservative PAC before the primary. Cole went in with more than $108,000 cash on hand and nearly $30,000 through the Southwest Missouri Conservative Values PAC.
Cameron Gerber studied journalism at Lincoln University. Prior to Lincoln, he earned an associate’s degree from State Fair Community College. Cameron is a native of Eldon, Missouri.
Contact Cameron at cameron@themissouritimes.com.
