Last night, a small but apparently very motivated collection of Oklahoma voters headed to the polls to decide the future of our state, our minimum wage, and which millionaire Republicans get to spend the next few months ruining local TV with campaign ads.
As usual, the results were a fun mix of depressing, hilarious, predictable and oddly satisfying. We had rich guys lighting money on fire, MAGA pastors limping into runoffs, Christian Nationalists getting bounced, and Oklahoma voters once again reminding poor people to stop being so poor.
Here are seven things that happened on election night…
1. Drummond and Mazzei make runoff in Governor Race…
After a combined $22 million in campaign spending was flushed down the drain, we’re down to two people for the Republican Oklahoma governor’s race – Gentner Drummond and Mike Mazzei.
We’ll have plenty of time to follow, lampoon and suffer through campaign ads for these guys over the next few months, so I want to focus real quick on the super surprising news of the race – Charles “Chiquita” McCall finished 5th.
Finishing fifth in any election is embarrassing, but especially so when you lose to a guy who you outspent $82 to $1 – Jake Merrick. Despite not being invited to any of the major gubernatorial debates, he finished 4th in the primary, probably based on the strength of his TLO Q&A:
As we’ve documented on this site over the past year or so, the McCall campaign has been floundering from the beginning. First they announced his run in the most boring way possible, and then followed it with one of the most bizarre transphobic fruit-monger ads to ever air. I don’t credit Oklahoma Republicans for having a lot of sense, but this time around, it’s nice to see them reject the boring, stiff, transphobic banker. Sure, I don’t know if any of the other guys are any better, but well done.
Speaking of the “other guys,” Chip Keating finished a respectable but distant third in the race. He vowed in his campaign speech to not stay silent, then when given an opportunity to endorse Drummond or Mazzei, stayed predictably silent.
Anyway, I guess it will be “fun” – term used loosely – to see how the race between Mazzei and Drummond goes from here. Prediction markets seem to think Mazzei will take home the prize based on his Trump endorsement, but I wouldn’t count out Drummond. The guy has been on the scene forever, has deep pockets, and based on yard signs in my neighborhood, has way more grassroots support.
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2. Jackson Lahmeyer faces runoff against Mark Tedford…
A surprise mistress make-out scandal wasn’t enough to knock Jackson Lahmeyer out of the race for Oklahoma’s 1st Congressional District. He now moves to a runoff where he’ll face former State Rep. Mark Tedford.
Because I like watching hypocritical MAGA blowhard pastors squirm, this one should actually be fun to watch! In fact, I may have to update the home address on my streaming service to the Tulsa area just so I can catch all the negative campaign ads.
On that note, do you think Tedford will go on the attack, or just sit back and let Lahmeyer’s scandal do all the talking for him? I guess Jackson has promised to address and explain away the accusations that he locked lips with a former Miss Oklahoma USA campaign aide during Sunday’s Sheridan Church service. It will be interesting to see what fallout comes from that.
Will Jackson’s MAGA make-out mistress continue to release details from their steamy little campaign romance? Will another woman — or man — come forward with their own accusations? Will Lahmeyer somehow blame it all on the Deep State, the liberal media or an especially seductive lip gloss?
We’ll let you know!
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3. Rural and Republican Voters Nuke Minimum Wage Proposal…
It still sucks to be a poor person in Oklahoma!
Thanks to low voter turnout and some good old-fashioned strategic election engineering, SQ 832 failed by about 10 points on Tuesday night.
Sadly, this isn't surprising.
As I mentioned yesterday, the only way this thing was going to pass was if Democrats and Independents showed up in larger-than-normal numbers. Unfortunately, they didn’t, which is exactly why state leaders tucked the proposal onto a sleepy statewide primary ballot, where the electorate is basically made up of rural Republicans, angry retirees, and people who think requiring a business to pay someone enough to afford groceries is a radical act of communism.
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4. Cyndi Byrd primaries Todd Russ…
It looks like the Clinton branch of the state’s Unclaimed Property Office is on life support!
State Treasurer Todd Russ – the famed Stitt grifter who fought ESG investing, liked to drive his state vehicle, and attempted to steer a billion-dollar investment deal to one of Stitt’s grifter buddies – was unseated by former State Auditor Cyndi Byrd.
Yikes. That’s going to make for one fun meeting!
Anyway, very rarely do I compliment Republican voters, but they nailed this one. Russ is a corrupt grifter-crony type, while Byrd seems to have ethics, standards and a high-and-mighty and righteous view of government. Well done.
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5. Dusty Deevers voted out of office…
The Lord works in mysterious ways!
Dusty Deevers – the famed Christian Nationalist pastor-lawmaker who fought hard to ban no-fault divorce and advance other far-right causes – finished third in the Republican primary for his Senate seat.
Once again, we rarely give Republican voters credit, but kudos to Lawtonites for, I assume, electing a more reasonable rank-and-file Republican who will spend less time trying to turn Oklahoma into Gilead from The Handmaid’s Tale, and more time focusing on traditional party values like helping the rich and hurting the poor.
6. Jena Nelson tops union bro for CD 5 nomination…
In the Democratic primary for Oklahoma’s 5th Congressional District, Jena Nelson defeated Trey Martin – the tattooed ironworker and union leader who was apparently running as the “What if Bernie Sanders had a welder’s mask?” candidate.
Nelson has hardly a chance against Stephanie Bice in November, but at least Democrats went with the candidate who has already run statewide, knows how to take a punch, and doesn’t look like she’s about to organize a job-site walkout at a Buffalo Wild Wings.
Also, will this be the last we see of Trey Martin, or will he – or some other Chevy-tough PAC candidate – continue to try to disrupt Oklahoma elections for Democrats? I guess we'll wait around and see.
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7. Lingerie Football Star Forces Runoff Against Jason Lowe…
Well, it looks like Kayla Baker’s suspiciously polished, well-funded, Chamber-friendly campaign did its job.
The former Lingerie Football League offensive lineman and current mystery Democratic candidate forced Oklahoma County Commissioner Jason Lowe into an August runoff, despite Lowe coming painfully close to winning the thing outright.
That has to be annoying for Lowe. He almost avoided another election, but now has to spend the rest of the summer fighting off a pretty Chamber-backed dark money candidate. Good luck with that!
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Stay with The Lost Ogle. We’ll keep you advised.
