Elijah J. L. Haahr (born May 28, 1982) is an American attorney and politician who served as a member of the

Missouri House of Representatives The Missouri House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the Missouri General Assembly. It has 163 members, representing districts with an average size of 37,000 residents. House members are elected for two-year terms during general elections ...

, for the 134th district from 2013 to 2021. He is a member of the Republican Party.

Early life and education

Haahr grew up in southwest Missouri. He attended

Ozarks Technical Community College Ozarks Technical Community College (OTC) is a public community college in Springfield, Missouri. It was established by Springfield and thirteen surrounding public school districts on April 3, 1990. It has six locations in southern Missouri. St ...

and was a member of the National Dean's List and

Phi Theta Kappa Phi Theta Kappa ( or PTK) is an honor society for students of associate degree-granting colleges. Its headquarters are in Jackson, Mississippi and it has more than 4.3 million members in nearly 1,300 chapters in eleven nations. History Phi The ...

. After graduating from OTC with honors in 2002, Haahr received an academic scholarship to attend

Missouri Western State University Missouri Western State University (MWSU or MoWest) is a public university in St. Joseph, Missouri. As of 2023, it enrolled 3,815 students. History Missouri Western State University was founded in 1915 as St. Joseph Junior College and held cours ...

. He graduated cum laude from MWSU in 2005. He then attended the

University of Missouri School of Law The University of Missouri School of Law (Mizzou Law or MU Law) is the law school of the University of Missouri. It is located on the university's main campus in Columbia, forty minutes from the Missouri State Capitol in Jefferson City. The s ...

on academic scholarship and graduated with honors in 2008. At MU, he served as editor in chief of the ''Environmental Law Review'' and represented MU at the regional level in mock trial and moot court competitions.

Career

Haahr is an attorney with Kutak Rock and focuses on product liability and personal injury. He is licensed to practice in Missouri and Oklahoma. During his time in the Missouri House of Representatives, Haahr chaired the Emerging Issues Committee and served as Speaker Pro Tem. In September 2017, he was elected to serve as Speaker of House starting in January 2019. He is the only Speaker in Missouri history from Springfield. In 2019, Haahr spoke in favor of a

criminal justice reform Criminal justice reform is the reform of criminal justice systems. Stated reasons for criminal justice reform include reducing crime statistics, racial profiling, police brutality, overcriminalization, mass incarceration, under-reporting, and ...

measure to undo mandatory minimum sentencing laws for nonviolent offenders and give judges the discretion to determine sentencing on the basis of the offender's character, rehabilitation prospects and threat to society. In 2019, he spoke in favor of overturning voter-approved redistricting rules whereby a nonpartisan state demographer, with the 70% approval of a citizen commission, would re-draw legislative districts every year. The rules also included requirements that the districts be drawn to make them competitive. According to an

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

analysis, those rules would likely reduce the Republican Party's supermajorities in the

Missouri General Assembly The Missouri General Assembly is the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Missouri. The bicameral General Assembly is composed of a 34-member Missouri Senate, Senate and a 163-member Missouri House of Represen ...

Electoral history

State representative

Personal life

Elijah lives in Springfield with his four children. He is a member of the National Rifle Association.

References

External links

* , - 1982 births Living people Speakers of the Missouri House of Representatives Republican Party members of the Missouri House of Representatives Politicians from Springfield, Missouri University of Missouri alumni 21st-century members of the Missouri General Assembly {{Missouri-MORepresentative-stub