Walsh prepares run for Jones’ House seat

ASHLAND, Mo. – Not even 24 hours after Rep. Caleb Jones decided to join Gov.-elect Eric Greitens’ staff, Southern Boone County Republicans have a potential candidate waiting in the wings for the inevitable special election for his House seat.

Longtime Republican operative and 2016 Republican National Convention delegate Sara Walsh formally announced her intentions to run for the seat weeks ago as Jones would have been barred by term limits from seeking the office again. However, now that Jones will vacate the seat, the time frame has moved up considerably for Walsh to become the next member of the Boone County caucus.

“The campaign I had planned for 2018, when State Rep. Caleb Jones would have been term-limited, will begin now,” Walsh said in a release. “I have been meeting with many of the good citizens of Boone, Cole, Cooper, and Moniteau counties and eagerly look forward to introducing myself to those I don’t yet know.”

She credited Jones with what he has done for the district and added that her priorities were to focus on public safety, education reform and removing barriers to job creation.

Walsh currently works for the Missouri Pharmacy Association and lives in Ashland, just south of Columbia. She has long been an active supporter of Republican politics in the Mid-Missouri area.