With the deadline for registering to vote in the Aug. 6 primary approaching on Wednesday, here is an introduction to the three Republican candidates vying for a spot on the Nov. 5 general election ballot for 154th District representative. A Democratic candidate is running unopposed in the primary race.
Missouri's 154th District includes most of Howell County, except for the far northwest corner that includes the city of Mtn. View and is in the 153rd District.
Lisa Durnell, Willow Springs, describes herself as a lifelong area resident who believes in the need to fight to keep all constitutional rights intact, including freedom of speech, the right to keep and bear arms, and the right to privacy.
She says as a member of the Missouri Firearms Coalition and the National Rifle Association, she recognizes the importance of our Second Amendment rights and will fight to protect them.
Durnell says she is also committed to a conservative stance on social issues like abortion and preventing children from receiving hormone therapy, puberty blockers, and life-changing, irreversible surgeries. She supports initiative petition reform that shifts the state to a concurrent majority requirement for the Missouri constitution to be amended, and says in general, she believes the process to change the Missouri constitution should be more difficult than it currently is. As it stands, constitutional amendments are introduced as petitions that must meet a threshold of signatures of registered voters before being placed on a ballot, then passed by a majority of voters.
In regard to school choice, Durnell said she believes that if a bill is passed allowing for the money to “follow the child,” that there should not be language included that would put home schools and private schools under Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education oversight.
Other issues she says she is interested in and investigating further are illegal immigration, property rights, cattle identification requirements and Central Bank Digital Currency.
For more information, her Facebook page may be found at "Lisa Durnell for MO House District 154," or visit her website durnellfordistrict154.com.
Larry Lindeman of West Plains says, of all the candidates running, he is the most qualified as the one with the most varied background. He has been a Howell County resident most of his life, was educated in the West Plains school system and graduated from West Plains hIgh School in 1967.
He worked at the International Shoe Company in West Plains while he attended Missouri State University-West Plains, then called the Southwest Missouri State University Residence Center. He transferred to the Springfield campus in 1969 and completed a Bachelor of Science Degree in Education as a biology major with a chemistry minor before teaching a year at the Stoutland School District in Camden and Laclede Counties. He has a lifetime teaching certification in biology, chemistry and general science.
In 1972, he returned to West Plains and bought and ran a service station for three years before returning to the shoe factory where he worked as one of the youngest foremen in his department, he says. He went back to teaching in 1980 at Dora School in Ozark County while working weekends at Sunburst Ranch, a campground and canoe rental business he managed for 17 years. During his time as manager he served a three-year term on the Dora School Board, then returned to teaching and was an assistant varsity basketball coach in Gainesville, also in Ozark County, until 2005.
From that time until his retirement in 2018 he worked as an outdoor skills specialist in the outreach and education division of the Missouri Department of Conservation. In that capacity, he supervised the hunter education program in the 12-county Ozark Region and coordinated youth programs in conjunction with schools and organizations like the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts and 4-H clubs. He is certified in several shooting disciplines and has been a hunter education instructor for 39 years, and says as a Class 2 shotgun instructor, lifetime member of the National Rifle Association and a licensed hunting incident investigator with the MDC, Second Amendment rights are of utmost importance to him. Also related to outdoor activities, he is a level 2 canoe instructor with the National Canoe Association.
Lindeman is currently on the board of directors for the Harlin Museum in West Plains and serves West Plains Senior Center Board President, having been on that board for several years.
He has been a bus driver and substitute teacher in West Plains and the surrounding rural schools and was most recently a teacher in the kindergarten through third grade special education classroom at West Plains Elementary, for the 2023-24 school year. He has been married to Sherry Thall Lockett Lindeman for a little over five years.
Lindeman says he is running on his credentials and experience and is not soliciting campaign contributions, but will accept them. To contact Lindeman, call 417-255-3977. He is on Facebook, @larry.lindeman.7.
Mark Collins is a lifelong resident and third-generation farmer of Howell County. He and his wife Ruby have been married and operated their 240-acre family farm in southern Howell County for over 40 years.
They have four children and five grandchildren. In 2014, they opened and began operating and managing their small business, Rubydoo’s Vintage Events Center.
Collins has served on numerous state, regional and local boards, including several years in different positions on the State of Missouri County Commissioners Association Board, but in the most recent capacity as president. He served 18 years as a Howell Valley School Board member, 14 years as Howell County Southern District Commissioner and 12 years as Howell County Presiding Commissioner. Additionally, he shas erved on the University of Missouri Extension Board, the Workforce Development Board, the South-Central Solid Waste Board, South-Central Ozark Council of Governments, the Transportation Advisory Board and the Howell County 911 board. He says he feels his experience serving on the state, regional and local boards have allowed him to gain the knowledge needed to be the next 154th District State Representative.
Collins says he is a fiscal conservative and pro-life, pro-Second Amendment, pro-family, pro-education, and pro-veteran’s rights and stands with past and present 154th District representatives in continuing to be tough on crime, supportive of law enforcement and emergency services, and strongly believes in supporting public education. He adds that his knowledge of agriculture, transportation and local government makes him the perfect fit to continue serving the people of Howell County and the 154th District, and he plans to maintain the voice of reason and enable the stability needed for the future of all Howell County.
Find his Facebook page, @MarkB.Collins154th.
JoJo Stewart, running unopposed in the primary as a Democrat, is a lifelong Missourian and Ozarkian who describes herself as "a daughter, sister, wife, blogger, avid outdoorswoman and grassroots organizer but, most importantly, a mom."
As a mother with school-aged children, she says, she is a forward thinker who looks at local and state issues and sees the current Republican supermajority as focused on igniting “culture wars” to divide and sow mistrust among neighbors.
Instead, Stewart says, they should be delivering on campaign promises of access to healthcare and mental health care in particular; funding for public schools; reinvesting in small community's critical infrastructure including 911, first responders, fire departments and law enforcement; and repairing roads.
She opposes what she sees as attacks by the Republican Party on public libraries, and tactics of "trying to trick folks into giving up their vote, voice and petition process for direct democracy" by ignoring constituents and overriding votes, passing unconstitutional laws that don't hold up in court, and wasting tax dollars to build campaigns.
She says she supports the restoration of bodily autonomy and access to reproductive healthcare, including screenings for cervical cancers, access to contraceptives and in vitro fertilization, and testing for sexually transmitted diseases, and the concept of "physical liberty" as a constitutional right.
The local community, she says, deserves to thrive with representation that will sponsor policies that serve the district’s interests instead of catering to the desires of corporate donors. If elected, Stewart says she will vote for legislation that serves the district’s interests, will not put party over people and be accountable to her constituents as a fellow resident of the district.
She has been endorsed by the AFL-CIO (American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations) and says she looks forward to working with them to help bring good-paying jobs to the district.
In summary, Stewart says it's time to bring bipartisanship, civility and common sense back to Jefferson City while making Missouri a better place for everyone. Her Facebook page is at "Jojo Stewart Mo House District-154."
