Well, the day is done and the votes are in, but Oklahoma’s Primary Elections are not done. While I have the unofficial results, the official results will not be in until (I presume) the provisional ballots have been reviewed and all that gets sent back up the state. [Update: Final results with provisional ballots counted will be available this weekend after 5pm on Friday. Results will be certified by the state on July 3rd pending no challenges or recounts.] However, there seems to be enough information to make a few statements about the races. It would also be helpful to reference the official candidate list held by the State Election Board. [Updated references to when the Runoff Primary will be held. State Election Board states that it will be held August 28th not in July]
To start off, in the only statewide seat voted on yesterday, we have the winner of the full term seat for Corporation Commissioner, Bob Anthony. Since only Republicans filed for this seat, it is a done deal.
On the US Representative side, here are the results:
- District 1: Incumbent John Sullivan was ousted by challenger Jim Bridenstine 53.83% to 46.17%. Bridenstine will got to the voters in November against Democrat John Olson and Independent Craig Allen.
- District 2: The Republican race will go to a Primary Runoff election in August between Markwayne Mullin and George Faught. The Democratic race will go to a Primary Runoff between Rob Wallace and Wayne Herriman. The winners of those runoffs will go to November against Independent Michael G. Fulks.
- District 3: Incumbent Republican Frank Lucas took this election in a landslide victory. He will face off against Democratic Primary winner Timothy Ray Murray and Independent William M. Sanders.
- District 4: Incumbent Republican Tom Cole won a landslide victory as well. He will face the November election against Democratic Primary winner Donna Marie Bebo and Independent RJ Harris.
- District 5: Had no Primary Elections this year. The November ticket will consist of Incumbent Republican James Lankford, Democrat Tom Guild and Independents Pat Martin and Robert T. Murphy.
On the State Senate side of the Primaries, there were 12 total, 9 Republican and 3 Democratic. Of these 12, Republican Primaries 15, 17, 33 and 43 will go to a Runoff. Depending on how any provisional ballots and challenges go this may change, but Republican Primary 3 had Wayne Shaw beating Cyndi McArtor by only 31 votes. Very close.
On the State House side of the Primaries, there were 33 total, 25 Republican and 8 Democratic. Of these 33, Republican Primaries 53 and 70 will go to a Runoff. Democratic Primaries 14 and 88 will also go to a Runoff.
There were also various local and county primaries happening in the state. However, the state does not report on those numbers. So I will leave that to you to look for if you are interested.
As a final note, we have a total of 10 primary elections going into Runoff. This means that the state will have to expend resources to pay for them. All these runoffs could be made moot if the State would make any or all of the following changes:
- Change to an Instant Runoff Election in which voters ranked their choices and we eliminate the last person until we have a clear majority winner.
- Open the primaries to Independent voters and voters from other parties. As Oklahoma law currently stands, the Parties can choose to allow Independent voters, but have never done so. 21 State Senate and House elections and many local and county elections were decided in this Primary. So a lot of voters did not get the chance to vote for their representative.
- Privatize the primaries. Let the political parties manage and pay for the nominations of their own candidates. If they want them closed and want runoffs, let them pay for it. There is no reason for the state to be taking on the burden.
So there you have it. That is what the outlook will be for the November election. For a little more information on which districts will have a November Election, please reference my previous post on candidate filings.
