By Constitution Staff

The U.S. Congress is composed of two chambers. Senators serve six-year terms with only a third of the seats up each election year. Each state has two seats in that upper chamber. Neither of Oklahoma’s two U.S. Senate seats was up for election in 2024. Senator James Lankford was reelected in 2022 and his term will not be up until the 2028 election. Senator Markwayne Mullin won the 2022 Special Election to complete the term of Jim Inhofe. That term will expire in 2026. All five Oklahoma seats in the U.S. House of Representatives are up each election year since they serve two-year terms. All five incumbents ran for reelection. The Primary Election on June 18 reelected one congressman and determined the final line up of candidates in several other districts for the November election.

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 ran for reelection in 2024. 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.

In the June 18 Primary, Hern overwhelming won the Republican nomination and faced a Democrat and an independent in the November election. Hern won reelection in November with 188,832 votes (60.43%).

Two candidates filed for the Democrat nomination. Dennis Baker, 69, secured the Democrat nomination in the June 18 primary election. He ran for the U.S. Senate in 2022 and lost in the Democratic Primary. He is a former officer with the Tulsa Police Department and has also been an FBI agent. Baker finished in second place behind Hern and received 107,903 votes (34.53%).

In addition to Congressman Hern and Democrat Baker, there was 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. He received 15,766 votes (5.05%).

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 in the General Election.

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, Brecheen 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 in 2024, but faced a Democrat and an independent on the November ballot. Brecgeen won reelection with 238,123 votes (74.18%).

Brandon Wade, 47, was the only candidate filing for the Democrat 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. He ran for the U.S. Senate in 2022, but lost in the Democratic Primary. He finished behind Brecheen and received 68,841 votes (21.44%).

Ronnie Hopkins, 67, of Rose is a pastor and ran 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.” Hopkins received 14,061 votes (4.38%).

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. Meanwhile, Lincoln County, and the southern part of Logan County, including Guthrie, were removed from the Third District and shifted to the Fifth District. A portion of eastern Canadian County (west of Oklahoma County), including Yukon and Piedmont, was also removed and shifted to the Fifth District.

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 in 2024. He is a former State Representative and runs a ranching operation.

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 for the office, 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 was first elected to Congress in 2002. He previously served in the Oklahoma Senate 1989-90. During his time in Congress, Cole has moved up into leadership positions, and last 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 country in 2024. 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. Cole won the Republican nomination but still faced a Democrat and an independent candidate in November. Cole was reelected with 199,962 votes (65.25%).

Two candidates ran for the Democratic nomination. Mary Brannon, 72, of Washington, OK won the Democrat nomination. She was the Democrat nominee against Cole in 2018, 2020, and 2022. She is a former teacher and school counselor. Brannon received 86,641 votes in November (28.27%).

Independent candidate James Stacy, 60, of Burneyville has worked in the information technology industry writing computer applications. He is also a marijuana legalization activist. He received 19,870 votes (6.48%).

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.

While Bice, 50, drew no challengers for the GOP nomination, she did face a Democrat and was reelected in November with 207,636 votes (60.69%).

Democrat, Madison Horn, 34, of Oklahoma City was Bice’s challenger in November. Horn was the Democrat 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. Horn received 134,471 votes (39.31%) in November against Bice.