By Constitution Staff

The seats in the U.S. House of Representatives are up each election year since they serve two-year terms. All five of the seats in Oklahoma will see contests this year. The Primary Election will be held on June 18, and the Runoff Primary Election on August 27. The General Election will be on November 5.

U.S. House – First District

The First Congressional District includes all of Tulsa County, eastern Creek County including Sapulpa, western Wagoner County, and a small part of western Rogers County.

Incumbent Republican Kevin Hern, 62, of Tulsa is running for reelection. He was first elected to the seat in 2018, and was reelected in 2020, and 2022. He is the owner of KTAK Coorporation which operates 15 McDonald’s restaurants in Tulsa. Congressman Hern was reelected in 2022 with 61.16 percent of the vote.

Hern is being challenged for the Republican nomination by Paul Royse, 53, of Tulsa. In 2022, Royse was one of 11 Republicans that ran for the U.S. Senate seat that was being vacated by Jim Inhofe. Royse received less than 1 percent of the vote in the GOP Primary. He was also the Republican candidate for a seat in the Oklahoma House in 2020. Royse has mostly worked in law enforcement including being a security guard, private detective, police officer, and for the state of Oklahoma Office of Juvenile Affairs. The Republican nominee will face a Democrat and an independent in the November election.

Two candidates filed for the Democrat nomination. Perennial candidate Evelyn Rogers, 71, of Tulsa is running as a Democrat this time. She has mostly run as a Republican in previous contests. She ran for the U.S. Senate in 2008 and 2014, and eight times for a seat in the U.S. House, including the First District in 2020 and in 2022. In the 2022 race she ran as an independent and received 3.62% of the vote in the General Election. She has also run for a seat in the Oklahoma Legislature. She has never been elected to office. Rogers has been a librarian at Tulsa Community College. She holds numerous college degrees, including an MA in Practical Theology from Oral Roberts University in 1993 and an MLIS (Library and Information Studies) from the University of Oklahoma in 2006.

Dennis Baker, 69, is also competing for the Democrat nomination. He is a former officer with the Tulsa Police Department and has also been an FBI agent.

Joining the Republican and Democrat nominees will be and independent candidate. Mark David Garcia Sanders, 64, is an attorney who specializes in Bankruptcy and Reorganization law in Tulsa. In recent years he has also served as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Tulsa School of Law.

U.S. House – Second District

The Second District covers most of eastern Oklahoma, stretching south from the Kansas state line to the Red River border with Texas. In 2022, Markwayne Mullin did not run reelection, choosing instead to run for the open U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Senator Inhofe. With the Second District seat open for the first time in a decade, sixteen candidates filed for the open seat. Josh Brecheen won the Republican nomination and went on to win the seat with 72.45 percent of the vote.

Brecheen, 44, of Coalgate was a member of the Oklahoma Senate from 2010 to 2018. During his eight years in the Oklahoma Senate he had a cumulative average score of 82% on the Oklahoma Conservative Index published by the Oklahoma Constitution. Before his election to the Legislature, he worked for former U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn. He has also owned a quarter-horse breeding operation.

Brecheen is not being challenged for the GOP nomination, but will face a Democrat and an independent on the November ballot.

Brandon Wade, 47, was the only candidate filing for the Democrat nomination. Wade of is a machinery assembler for Schlumberger in Bartlesville where he also serves as president of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 351.

Ronnie Hopkins, 67, of Rose is running as an independent.

U.S. House – Third District

The third district covers most of the north central and western parts of the state, including the panhandle. Geographically, it covers about half the land area of the state due to the low population density. The boundary changes following the 2020 U.S. Census extended the district into southwestern Oklahoma County, which includes a portion of south Oklahoma City and a part near downtown.

Long-time Congressman Frank Lucas, 64, of Cheyenne was first elected to the seat in a Special Election in 1994. He is the longest serving member among the current Oklahoma Delegation in the U.S. House, and is running for reelection. He is a former State Representative and runs a ranching operation. He won reelection in 2022 with 74.54 percent of the vote.

Congressman Lucas has two challengers for the Republican nomination. Robin Lynn Carder, 57, of Sand Springs worked in the managed healthcare industry for 30 years, but for the last several years has devoted her time to investigating election integrity issues. Darren Hamilton, 62, of Fort Supply has worked for over 23 years designing, building, launching and operating communications satellites.

Since no Democrats, Libertarians or independents filed to run, the race will be decided in the GOP Primary.

U.S. House – Fourth District

The Fourth District covers much of south central and the southwestern parts of the state. Congressman Tom Cole, 74, of Moore is running for reelection. Cole was first elected to Congress in 2002. He was reelected in 2022 with 66.75 percent of the vote. He previously served in the Oklahoma Senate 1989-90. During his time in Congress, Cole has moved up to leadership positions, and in April it was announced that he will be Chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee.

Cole has four challengers for the GOP nomination. Paul Bondar, 44, of Stonewall has operated an insurance agency. Andrew Hayes, 40, of Lawton has worked with the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company and in agriculture. No additional information was available for Nick Hankins, 38, of Moore and Rick Whitebear Harris, 73, of Norman.

Two candidates are running for the Democrat nomination. Mary Brannon, 72, of Washington, OK was the Democrat nominee against Cole in 2018, 2020, and 2022. Brannon received 33.25 percent of the vote against Cole in the 2022 General Election. She is a former teacher and school counselor. Kody Macaulay, 35, of Moore works in IT at Tinker Air Force Base and is a U.S. Air Force veteran.

Independent candidate James Stacy, 60, of Burneyville has worked in the information technology industry.

U.S. House – Fifth District

The Fifth District includes most of Oklahoma City in Oklahoma County, all of Lincoln, Pottawatomie and Seminole counties. It also extends into the southern part of Logan County, including Guthrie, and a portion of eastern Canadian County, including Yukon and Piedmont..

In 2018 the Fifth District seat flipped from Republican to Democrat when Kendra Horn defeated the incumbent, Steve Russell. Oklahoma had not had a Democrat in Congress since 2012, and for the first time in state history Oklahoma had a Democrat woman to Congress. But, in 2020 State Sen. Stephanie Bice of Edmond secured the Republican nomination and went on to defeat Congresswoman Horn. Bice was elected to the Oklahoma Senate in 2014 and reelected in 2018. Although Bice was a moderate Republican, earning a 56% cumulative average on the Oklahoma Conservative Index for the six years that she had been in office, she has been far more conservative than the liberal Congresswoman Horn. Congresswoman Bice won reelection in 2022 with 59% of the vote. Bice is running for a third term.

While Bice, 50, drew no challengers for the GOP nomination, she will face a Democrat. Madison Horn, 34, of Oklahoma City. She was the Democrat nominee in 2022 for the U.S. Senate, losing to Senator James Lankford. Horn received 32.10 percent of the vote. Horn was raised in Stilwell and has worked for various firms involving Cyber and Digital Security, and currently works for Siemens Energy.