Incumbents Advance, New Tulsa Mayor, And Other Oklahoma Statewide Election Results

Polls have closed across Oklahoma in a statewide primary election that will narrow down all five Congressional seats, Oklahoma's only U.S. Senate race, 101 state House seats, half of the Senate, and numerous county and local races.

We're going to be updating this post through the evening with results and reaction as they come in. You can also follow us on Twitter. We'll be using the hashtags #OKPrimary and #OKVotes16.

Updated 10:17 p.m.

Three incumbent Republican state lawmakers have lost to primary challengers, and several others narrowly escaped defeat. State Rep. Ken Walker, R-Tulsa, state Rep. Dennis Johnson, R-Duncan, and state Sen. Corey Brooks, R-Washington, were all defeated in Tuesday's contests.

Brooks lost his primary to Duncan rancher and business owner Paul Scott, who will face Washington Democrat Leah Pollan in the general election.

Johnson was defeated by Duncan businessman Marcus McEntire, who will face Democrat Melissa Tilley, a teacher in Comanche Public Schools. Walker lost to Republican nonprofit and healthcare executive Carol Bush, who will square off against Navy veteran, electrician, and Democratic nominee Joe Jennings this fall.

Several incumbents narrowly escaped defeat Tuesday night, including state Rep. Donnie Condit, D-McAlester. Condit was in a tight race with Cord McCoy, a rodeo bull-rider from Tupelo who competed with his brother Jet on the popular CBS reality television show The Amazing Race. Jet McCoy fared better in his race for Senate District 13. He heads to a runoff against fellow Republican Greg McCortney.

In Oklahoma City's House District 52, state Rep. and majority leader Charles Ortega beat Republican John Thomas by just 42 votes.

Updated 9:41 p.m.

Oklahoma's Fourth District U.S. Rep. Tom Cole will face Democrat Christina Owen in this fall's general election after she defeated 2014 Democratic nominee Bert Smith by a wide margin - 62 percent to 38 percent.

Former state Sen. Al McAffrey and retired university professor Tom Guild will meet in an Aug. 23 runoff for the Democratic nomination in Oklahoma's 5th Congressional District.

McAffrey and Guild received the most votes in Tuesday's three-way primary race in which no candidate received more than 50 percent. A third Democrat, Leona Leonard of Seminole, was eliminated.

The winner of the runoff will face Republican U.S. Rep. Steve Russell and Libertarian Zachary Knight in the Nov. 8 general election.

The Democrats hope to be the first to represent the district in 40 years. Democrat John Jarman represented the district for more than two decades before switching to the Republican Party in 1975. The seat has been in GOP hands since.

U.S. Rep. Markwayne Mullin won his primary and will face Democrat Joshua Harris-Till, a Tahlequah native and electrical technician. He's a former staffer in the office of Mullin's predecessor, former U.S. Rep. Dan Boren, who's the last Democrat to serve in Oklahoma's Congressional delegation. Independent candidate John McCarthy will also be on the ballot. Congressman Frank Lucas will face the only Democrat who filed in Oklahoma's Third Congressional District, Frankie Robbins. 

Updated 9:27 p.m.

Tulsa has a new mayor after city councilman G.T. Bynum defeated incumbent Dewey Barlett by a wide margin.

"This is a difficult time for all, of course," Bartlett said in his concession speech. "But I'm very proud of the seven years that we leave behind us. When I took this city over, I had the responsibility of dealing with a lot of economic issues. I'm very proud that we're now leaving this city - in many, many months - in extremely good financial shape."

Incumbent Tulsa County Sheriff Vic Regalado won his Republican primary, a quick turnaround after winning the post in November, The Tulsa World reports:

Regalado filled the post left vacant by the resignation of Stanley Glanz over leadership questions stemming from a grand jury investigation following the shooting of an unarmed suspect by volunteer reserve deputy Robert Bates.

Credit Breea Clark for Norman, Ward 6 / Facebook

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Updated 9:01 p.m.

Breea Clark will represent Ward 6 on Norman's City Council after winning a runoff election against incumbent Jerry Lang. Clark captured just over 64 percent of the vote from northeast Norman residents. During April's city council election, Clark earned more votes than Lang, but earned less than 50 percent of the votes because of a third candidate in the race, Ashley McCray.

The Norman Transcriptreports Cleveland County Sheriff Joe Lester won the Republican primary, and there is no Democrat for him to face in the fall, and Mike Reynolds and Marilyn Williams face a runoff election for Cleveland County Court Clerk:

Updated 8:36 p.m.

It's been an interesting night for elections in Oklahoma.

Power outages in Edmond and Canadian County momentarily delayed the reporting of election returns. The Canadian County Election Board says two voting precincts that lost power Tuesday had electricity restored shortly before polls closed at 7 p.m.

Canadian County Election Board Secretary Wanda Armold says the power outage may result in a short reporting delay in two small precincts in El Reno, but said it probably affects only a few hundred ballots.

Armold says residents who cast votes in the precincts during the power outage had their ballots placed in locked bins instead of fed into the mechanical ballot scanners. Armold says these votes will be manually fed into the machines now that power has been restored.

The State Election Board says a Tulsa County Election board error briefly showed all precincts reporting, but that error has since been fixed. Online voting results should be correct.

Updated 8:10 p.m.

All five incumbents in Oklahoma's U.S. House delegation have advanced to the general election after defeating their Republican primary challengers.

The Associated Press has called the GOP races for Jim Bridenstine, Markwayne Mullin, Frank Lucas, Tom Cole, and Steve Russell. Bridenstine, Mullin, Cole, and Lucas all faced challenges from the right, especially over their records on voting for a $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill late last year, The Journal Record's Dale Denwalt told KGOU on Monday:

Bridenstine has won a third term in the U.S. House after his independent challenger David Hullum dropped out of the race, since there is no Democratic challenger in this fall's race.

Tulsa oil executive Tom Atkinson criticized Bridenstine as being too insular in Washington and only wanting to consider ideas from like-minded colleagues. Atkinson also said Bridenstine has his eyes on higher office, a claim Bridenstine disputed.

Bridenstine touted his conservative credentials, noting he cast the only "no" vote among the state's GOP delegation on a $1 trillion spending bill last year.

Librarian Evelyn Rogers said eliminating the Affordable Care Act was her sole purpose for seeking the nomination.

Congressman Markwayne Mullin has turned back a challenge from within his own party, defeating a war veteran who enjoyed support from former Oklahoma U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn.

Mullin's victory over Jarrin Jackson advances him to the November general election, where he will face Independent John McCarthy and either Joshua Harris-Till or Paul Schiefelbein, who were in Tuesday's Democratic Party primary.

The plumbing company owner seeks a third term from eastern Oklahoma's sprawling 2nd District. He has said he will only serve three terms.

Jackson criticized Mullin's vote for a $1 trillion government funding plan. Mullin has said a vote against the bill would have resulted in cuts to military spending.

Coburn supported Jackson, saying he wouldn't "go along to get along."

U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe backed Mullin.

Credit Sue Ogrocki / AP

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AP

Updated 7:45 p.m.

In Oklahoma's Senate District 37, and incumbent Republican state Sen. Dan Newberry, R-Tulsa, will face Democrat Lloyd Snow. Snow is the recently retired superintendent of Sand Springs Public Schools, and The Journal Record's Dale Denwalt says he's been "extraordinarily vocal" for teachers and schools.

Snow's victory is an early indicator that the dozens of educators running for office may do well in Tuesday's primary. In another highly watched race, early and absentee voting indicates state Sen. Kyle Loveless has a strong lead over Mustang and Putnam City science teacher Mike Mason.

Updated 7:26 p.m.

Early and absentee ballot results are starting to trickle in from voters who made their decision in the weeks and days leading up to Tuesday's election, and so far most state legislative and U.S. Congressional incumbents have strong leads over their challengers.

Original Post:

Independents are eligible to vote in both Democratic and Libertarian primaries this year, although they had to decide which party to cast their ballot with when they arrived at their polling location.

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