Is it time to flip around the phrase "Don't Edmond My Norman?"
In a unique move, Norman went to the right and Edmond leaned to the left in yesterday's city runoff and school board elections. Here are some of the big things that went down:
Breea Clark loses mayoral race to bible school grandpa
After flaming out in the Ogle Madness Final 4, Mayor Clark's streak of bad luck in the ballot box continued as she lost her reelection bid for mayor of Norman. She was defeated by Larry Heikkila by a 7% margin.
So, who is the mysterious mayor-elect? I think his campaign photo says it all.
Yep, Norman elected a Werther's Original salesman over Mayor Clark.
Surprisingly, Larry seems qualified for the job in a conservative evangelical type of way. He's basically your churchy grandpa – old, white, ex-military, pastor, conservative values, police are great, homeless are bad, you know the drill. He also worked for the city as a public safety manager or something like that. He's obviously not the most progressive choice to lead a divided college town, but at least he's not an ultra-right-wing wacko who wants to destroy government like the lady Stitt endorsed.
As opposed to blaming the loss on voter fraud and a rigged election, Mayor Clark was gracious in defeat and conceded to gramps while standing on stairs:
I have no clue what the polls predicted, but this does feel like a tad of an upset. Norman is the most liberalish outpost in the metro area, so you'd think the mainstream, professional, smart, liberal Norman mom would easily win reelection, but I guess her decision to A) treat the pandemic seriously and B) question police funding, woke up the city's conservative beast. That's a shame, but at least it maintains the tradition of Norman keeping things weird.
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Edmond Voters Reject School Board Crazies
While Norman fell to the right, the Edmond left pushed back against some right-wing school board candidates.
Cheryl Williams – a longtime OK GOP supporter whose passions include banning books, protesting PRIDE months, and, I assume, leaving a trail of candy and sugar plums to her hidden gingerbread cottage – was thumped by Courtney Hobgood by a count of 61% to 39%, while Michael Grande – another local right-wing figure – lost to Marcus Jones by a narrow 1% margin.
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Let's give a big high five to all the sane and reasonable people who came out to vote against Cheryl. I know nothing about Courtney Hobgood, the person who defeated her, but I don't think I've seen a video of Courtney yelling down the city's black mayor because he dared recognize the LGBTQ community by designating a PRIDE Month, and that's all I really need to know.
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Mayor McSelfie had dinner with Martha Stewart
This has nothing to do with last night's election, but Mayor McSelfie got to rub elbows with former inmate Martha Stewart.
Man, that is so cool. I wish I was like Mayor Holt and could rub elbows with famous people! I wonder if they talked about baking tips and all the time Martha spent in prison for insider trading. Do you think she recognized him from MSNBC????! Oh, to be a fly on the wall of Cheever's!! What I wouldn't give?!
Anyway, I have no clue what that has to do with this recap, but it seemed like something fun to share. Have a swell day and goodbye.
