State Rep. Richard Morrissette, D-Oklahoma City, has dropped out of the race for Corporation Commissioner, which means incumbent Dana Murphy will win reelection to the regulatory post this fall.
In an email from his campaign Wednesday morning, Morrissette said his father’s death earlier this year affected him more deeply than he expected.
Here is the full statement from the Morrissette campaign on withdrawing from the Corp. Commission race: pic.twitter.com/ND0XsAk0vb
— Phil Cross (@philsnews) June 22, 2016
“Due to unforeseen circumstances, I believe it would be prudent for me to drop out of this race and concentrate on matters of importance which effect my life,’ Morrissette wrote.
Morrisette has represented House District 92 – which encompasses downtown, the state fairgrounds, and a portion of southwest Oklahoma City near Interstate 35 – since 2004. He’s term-limited in 2016, which means the legislative session that just concluded in May will be his last.
In January, just weeks before the start of the 2016 legislative session, Morrissette led a hearing at the Capitol about the state’s response to the uptick in seismic activity.
On his campaign website, Morrissette cited man-made earthquakes, water quality, and utility rates as issues that inspired him to run for the post.
Republican Dana Murphy, who would’ve been Morrissette’s opponent this fall, was first elected to a partial two-year term in 2008, and won re-election to a full six-year term in 2010.
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