Oklahoma Bankers Association We make bankers better!
We have survived the June 18 election primaries, the last-minute onslaught of tv ads and dreading opening the mailbox knowing it was full of political push cards.
Don’t get too comfortable, though, as we have several runoff elections to be held on Tuesday, Aug. 27. While there won’t be as many races then, there are several important ones in the state house and state senate pivotal in shaping what leadership will look like when session starts in February.
I’ll go over the federal election results, and also the State Senate where a shockwave was sent through the state legislature.
Federal Elections
Congressional District 1 (Hern – incumbent)
Republican Democratic
Kevin Hern — 87% Dennis Baker — 59%
Paul Royse — 13% Evelyn Rogers — 41%
Rep. Kevin Hern received more than 50% of the vote, therefore he will be the Republican nominee in the general election in November.
Dennis Baker was able to secure enough votes in the Democratic primary to secure the nomination for the general election. Hern, Baker and independent candidate Mark David Garcia Sanders will all be on the ballot in November.
Congressional District 2 (Brecheen – incumbent)
There weren’t any primary elections for CD 2, so Republican incumbent Josh Brecheen will be on the November ballot, along with Democratic candidate Brandon Wade and independent candidate Ronnie Hopkins.
Congressional District 3 (Lucas – incumbent)
Republican
Frank Lucas — 73%
Darren Hamilton — 14%
Robin Lynn Carder — 13%
Rep. Lucas secured enough votes to avoid a runoff, and there aren’t Democratic nor independent candidates, so Lucas was re-elected after the primary. The fact Lucas doesn’t have to spend time or resources for a general election is great news. As many of you know, Lucas is campaigning hard to be the next chairman of the House Financial Service Committee. That campaign takes a lot of those time and resources.
Congressional District 4 (Cole – incumbent)
Republican Democratic
Tom Cole – 65% Mary Brannon – 61%
Paul Bondar – 26% Kody Macaulay – 39%
Andrew Hayes – 4%
Rick Harris – 3%
Nick Hankins – 2%
Rep. Cole was able to surpass the 50% threshold to avoid a runoff in a crowded Republican primary. It was a primary to remember and one we may never see again. Political newcomer Paul Bondar came out of nowhere to challenge Cole. We still can’t confirm Bondar even resides in Oklahoma, but what we do know is he spent about $5 million of his personal money to try and defeat Cole. In the 2022 Republican primary for this same seat, Cole received 70% of the vote. Bondar spent loads of personal money and was only able to make a slight ding in the Cole campaign. Cole will face Democratic challenger Mary Brannon and independent candidate James Stacy in the November general election.
Congressional District 5 (Bice – incumbent)
Congresswoman Stephanie Bice will be the Republican nominee in the general election and will face off with the Democratic candidate Madison Horn.
State Elections
There was plenty of action on primary night in the State House of Representatives.
There were 21 races where it was winner take all: the individual who won would be the elected member to represent that district in the legislature.
There are eight races that will be decided in the general election and six others will go to an August runoff.
The one race on primary night that caught everyone by surprise was the Republican primary in House District 32. Chairman of House Appropriations Kevin Wallace has been as solid a state representative for which anyone could ever ask. He’s been part of House Speaker McCall’s leadership team for years and is widely thought to be the best House Appropriations chairman in the past 10 years.
Still, Wallace was unable to win the primary outright as he garnered just 41.75% of the vote, and actually finished second to rancher Jim Shaw (45.88%). The two will face each other in the primary runoff next month.
While there was plenty of drama in the State House, it couldn’t compare to what took place in the State Senate primaries.
There were eight senate primary races that were winner take all, four races that resulted in runoffs and five that will be determined in the November general election.
Two of the winner-take-all races had results that were shocking to the Oklahoma State Senate. The Republican primary in Senate District 43 was going to be a battle and everyone involved knew it. Jessica Garvin was the incumbent; she has represented the district since taking office in 2020. Sen. Garvin was part of the leadership team in the Senate and was also chair of the Senate General Government Committee.
Sen. Garvin was very good to the banking industry, she knew the role community banks play in the community and the state.
Her opponent, Kendal Sacchieri, is new to the political world, but is well known within the district. This race was close most of the night until late when Sacchieri pulled away and won the primary by 628 votes. Sacchieri will now face off with the Democratic nominee, Sam Graefe, in the general election.
The biggest surprise was one of the most shocking political upsets I’ve seen in my 24 years at the OBA. Sen. Greg McCortney has been in the Senate since 2016 and was a very influential member since the day he arrived. As a succeccesful business owner, he understood the impact of regulations and what they can do to a small business.
McCortney was thoughtful and direct when dealing with any type of legislation. He would make sure he knew exactly what impact a bill would have before he made his decision on how he would vote. During his time in the Senate, McCortney climbed the ranks of leadership and spent the last couple of sessions as majority floor leader.
During this past legislative session, McCortney was elected president pro tempore of the Senate by his caucus. This means McCortney was going to lead the Oklahoma State Senate starting in 2025.
Going into primary night, the race in Senate District 13 wasn’t on the top of my list. Like most political nerds, I was sitting in front of my computer on that Tuesday night wearing out the refresh button watching every race. Early on after the polls had closed, you had a pretty good idea of how the majority of the races were going to end. About 8:30 p.m., I found myself focused on McCortney’s race as it was neck and neck.
I started to reach out to friends from the Ada area to see what they knew, and they were shocked as well.
When the dust settled late in the evening, McCortney came up short. There were a total of 7,353 votes cast in the race and McCortney lost by 261 to Jonathan Wingard. It was Wingard’s maiden voyage into the political world and he definitely made a splash.
While the loss by McCortney was shocking enough, it also sent off a chain of events within the Republican-controlled Senate. As I mentioned earlier, McCortney was set to be the next pro temp of the State Senate; with his loss, however, it now leaves that position vacant.
There will be lots of action over the next couple of weeks as the Senate Republican caucus works to determine who will be the candidates to be the next Senate leader. The vote for pro temp won’t happen until the new members are sworn in after the general election in November.
The OBA will continue to be involved in all the elections as we work to help those members who support community banking, stay at the Capitol. We will also go on the road to meet with the folks who will be newcomers to the legislature to educate them on the role banks play in their local communities and in the state.