By Constitution Staff

Special Elections to fill two vacancies in the Oklahoma Legislature continue to advance, with one seat filled and the other moving toward the final election. The vacancies are the result of the resignation of two legislators, one in the Senate and one in the House. Since both seats had been held by Republicans, Democrats hoped to add to their deplorable numbers. In the Senate, Republicans had 40 seats, while the Democrats had only 8. And in the House, Republicans held 81 seats and the Democrats just 20.

The process to fill vacancies is a little different in Special Elections. When vacancies occur, the governor issues an order setting dates for filing and the elections. If more than one candidate in the same political party files for the vacant seat, a Special Primary Election is needed to select the party nominee. But, unlike the Regular Primary elections, the candidate that finishes first in the Special Primary is the nominee. In Regular Primary elections there is a Runoff between the top two vote getters if no candidate gets over 50 percent of the vote.

Senate District 32

On July 7, state Sen. John Michael Montgomery (R-Lawton) announced that he would be resigning from the Oklahoma Senate effective August 1, 2023 to accept the role of president and CEO of the Lawton-Fort Sill Chamber of Commerce. Montgomery previously served two terms in the House (District 62) from 2015-2019 before winning election to Senate District 32 in 2018. He was reelected in 2022 to a second four-year term. The new senator will serve the remaining three years of Montgomery’s term.

Six candidates filed for the open seat – four Republicans and two Democrats. The Special Primary elections held on October10 determined the nominee for each party. Dusty Deevers, CEO of Deevers Properties and also the pastor of Grace Community Church in Elgin, captured the Republican nomination. In the Democrat primary, former University of Oklahoma football defensive back Larry Bush, 49 took the nomination. Bush is the owner of an insurance agency and was the Democrat nominee for House District 62 in 2018 and 2016 and was defeated in the General Election in both years.

Deevers, 45, and Bush, 49, faced off in the Special General Election on December 12. Deevers defeated Bush in that election, keeping the seat in the Republican column. Deevers received 3,105 votes (55.49%) and Bush 2,491 (44.51%).

House District 39

State Representative Ryan Martinez resigned from his House District 39 seat on September 1, 2023. He resigned after pleading guilty to a felony offense of being in physical control of a vehicle while intoxicated. Under the plea deal, Martinez will serve one year probation and have an interlock device installed on his vehicle for six months. He was first elected to the Oklahoma House in 2016, and was last reelected in 2022. The winner of the Special Election will serve the remainder of Martinez’s two-year term.

The Special Primary Election was set for Tuesday , December 12, 2023. The General Special Election is scheduled for Tuesday February 13, 2024. Seven Republicans, two Democrats and one Libertarian filed for the seat. Since Richard Prawdzienski, 75, of Edmond was the only Libertarian to file, he advanced directly to the Special General Election ballot. Prawdzienski is a real estate investor and was an independent candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma in 2010. He ran unsuccessfully as a Libertarian candidate for District 41 of the Oklahoma State Senate in 2012 and again in 2016. In the 2014 he was an Independent candidate for Oklahoma Governor.

The seven Republicans competed for the nomination in the Special Primary Election on December 12, 2023. In that election, attorney Erick Harris, 36, of Edmond finished slightly ahead of Ronda Lee Peterson, 61, of Edmond. While Peterson was ahead in the election day vote, Harris captured the nomination with the counting of the absentee ballots. Peterson is a conservative activist and leads the Lions Den, a political group which holds monthly meetings and promotes conservative issues and candidates. Harris ended up with 897 votes (27.18%) compared to Peterson’s 869 votes (26.33%). Cris Price, 53, of Edmond is a mortgage broker and the founder and president of Price Mortgage Group LLC, received 506 votes (15.33%). Tim Hale, 64, of Edmond is a ministry coordinator for the Officer’s Christian Fellowship, he received 459 votes (13.91%). Ross Vanhooser, 63, of Edmond is a semi-retired physician and gained 429 votes (13.0%). Kristen Ferate, 45, of Edmond is the wife A.J. Ferate, an attorney who served as the past chairman of the Oklahoma Republican Party. She received 122 votes (3.70%). Finishing in last place with 18 votes (0.55%) was William A. Gaige Jr., 47, of Edmond, the operations manager at M-D Building Products, Inc.

Prior to entering private practice, Harris served as an assistant attorney general in the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office. The former Democrat was an unsuccessful Republican candidate for State Senator in District 30 in 2018, losing in the primary.

In the Democratic primary, Regan Raff, 43, of Edmond captured the nomination with 959 votes (82.39%). He is the owner of a small business doing bookkeeping. He defeated Paul Timmons, 62, of Edmond who retired from the Oklahoma Highway Patrol after 34 years. He has since been hired as the chief of investigations at the Oklahoma County Detention Center. Timmons received 205 votes (17.61 percent).

The winners of the Republican and Democratic primaries will join the Libertarian candidate in the Special General Election on February 13. The new representative should take office early in the next session of the Oklahoma Legislature which convenes on February 5, but before critical votes on legislation occur.