By Constitution Staff

All of 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 saw contests this year. The Primary Election on June 18 reelected one congressman and determined the final line up of candidates in several other districts for the General Election 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 Corporation which operates 15 McDonald’s restaurants in Tulsa. Congressman Hern was reelected in 2022 with 61.16 percent of the vote.

In the June 18 Primary, Hern overwhelming won the Republican nomination with 87.04% of the vote. He faces a Democrat and an independent in the November election.

Two candidates filed for the Democrat nomination. Dennis Baker, 69, secured the Democrat nomination with 59.22% of the vote in the June 18 primary election. He is a former officer with the Tulsa Police Department and has also been an FBI agent.

In addition to Congressman Hern and Democrat Baker, there will also be an independent candidate on the November ballot. 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 for reelection, and successfully ran 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 newspaper. 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 was not challenged for the GOP nomination this year, but will face a Democrat and an independent on the November ballot.

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

Ronnie Hopkins, 67, of Rose is a pastor and is running as an independent. As an Independent, Hopkins says “I have no powerful party controllers telling me what to say or do and how to vote on issues.”

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 ran for reelection this year. He is a former State Representative and runs a ranching operation. He won reelection in 2022 with 74.54 percent of the vote.

Lucas faced two challengers for the Republican nomination this year and emerged as the victor in the June 18 Primary with 73.01% of the vote.

Since no Democrats, Libertarians or independents filed to run, the race was decided in the GOP Primary with the reelection of Congressman Lucas.

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 into leadership positions, and in April it was announced that he will be Chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee.

Cole faced four challengers for the GOP nomination and the race became one of the most vigorous primary races for a U.S. House seat in the in the country this year. Paul Bondar, 44, claimed to live in Stonewall, Oklahoma rather than Dallas, Texas, and spent nearly $5 million of his own money campaigning against Congressman Cole. Bondar was the founder of Bondar Insurance Group which served the trucking industry. He sold the company to Alera Group in 2021, which apparently enabled him to self-fund his campaign. Bondar got the other three Cole opponents to abandon their campaigns and endorse him. But Cole won the Republican nomination with 64.63% of the vote and will face a Democrat and an independent candidate in November.

Two candidates ran for the Democratic nomination. Mary Brannon, 72, of Washington, OK took the Democrat nomination with 60.67% of the vote. She was the Democrat nominee against Cole in 2018, 2020, and 2022. She received 33.25 percent of the vote against Cole in the 2022 General Election. She is a former teacher and school counselor.

Independent candidate James Stacy, 60, of Burneyville has worked in the information technology industry writing computer applications. He is also a marijuana legalization activist.

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 sent a Democrat woman to Congress. But, in 2020, then 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. Horn was the Democratic nominee in 2022 for the U.S. Senate, losing to Senator James Lankford. Horn received 32.10% of the vote in that race. Horn was raised in Stilwell and has worked for various firms involving cyber and digital security, and is now CEO of her own cyber security firm, Rose Rock Advisory Group, in Oklahoma City.