Murray County voters followed their counterparts around the state in selecting candidates in last week’s primary election, but they went against the flow in several races.
The most notable one included the Republican race for governor where county voters went for former State Representative and Speaker of the House, Charles McCall, R-Atoka. State voters, however, picked Gentner Drummond and Mike Mazzei as their choices in the primary.
The later two will duel it out in the August Runoff Election to determine the Republican Party’s pick after receiving the two highest vote counts.
Statewide, McCall fell well short of the two front-runners, gathering in only 11.79 percent of the vote while Drummond and Mazzei captured about 26 percent each. Locally, McCall was the choice with over 39 percent of the vote.
Cyndi Munson was the clear Democratic pick for governor, capturing nearly 75 percent of the statewide vote. In Murray County, she was near that total with just over 72 percent.
Another race where county voters bucked the trend was for the U.S. Senate seat, formerly held Republican by Markwayne Mullin, who resigned after he was appointed by President Trump as U.S. Homeland Security Director.
In that Senate election on the Democratic side, state voters picked for N’kiyla J. Thomas (45%), and Jim Priest (23%). The two will now meet in the August runoff.
Kevin Hern was the clear Republican winner in that race, amassing nearly 70 percent total statewide, and just over 67 percent in Murray County.
Hern will face off with the Democratic winner in the November General Election for the top prize along with third party candidates.
District 4 U.S. Representative, Tom Cole, had no trouble in securing the Republican nomination, after getting over 71 percent of the vote over Marcie Everhart. Cole will now head to the general election where he will face off against Democratic candidate, Mitchell Jacob, who beat Jeff Pixley for the nomination.
In another locally contested race, District 20 District Attorney Melissa Handke (R-Healdton), who serves counties in southcentral Oklahoma, including Murray County, lost her re-election bid to James R. Gilmartin, R-Ardmore.
Gilmartin captured over 68 percent of the district-wide vote to Handke’s 31 percent. County votes also gave the nod to Gilmartin with nearly 57 percent of the total vote to 43 percent for Handke.
Since there were no Democrats in the race, Gilmartin will take over as District 20 DA in January.
In other races of note, Joe Echols and Cindy Byrd were the Republican winners for attorney general and state treasurer, respectively. Echols beat Jeff Starling by 10 percentage points while Byrd was the overwhelming pick with nearly 62 percent of the state vote. There were no Democrats in those races.
In the crowded race for State Superintendent, Republicans Robert Frankin and James Taylor will battle in the August runoff after emerging as the top two candidates. Frankin garnered just over 22 percent of the vote to Taylor’s 19 percent. A third Republican candidate, John Cox, was edged out of the runoff by a few thousand votes.
On the Democratic side, Jen- nettie Marshall won with nearly 58 percent of the vote.
Election
In other statewide races, runoffs for commissioner of labor and insurance commissioner will be in the offing.
Kevin West with nearly 42 percent of the vote, and John Pfeiffer with 35 percent of the vote will face off in August for the Republican nomination for commissioner of labor. There were no Democratic candidates.
In the race for insurance commissioner, Bob Sullivan and Marty L. Quinn emerged as the front-runners, Sullivan with just over 37 percent of the vote, and Quinn with nearly 28 percent.
Brad Boles captured the Republican nomination for corporation commissioner. He will face off with Democrat Rhonda Eastman, who won her party’s nomination with 70 percent of the vote, in the November general election.
In a final tally, state voters rejected a plan to raise the minimum wage, turning it down by over five percentage points.
