By Constitution Staff

Oklahoma experienced a statewide record-breaking 69.34% voter turnout for the General Election on November 3. In Presidential election years in Oklahoma, there are only a few statewide races on the ballot. Voters could also participate in one of the five Oklahoma seats in the U.S. House of Representatives that were on the ballot.

PRESIDENT

In the race for President of the United States, the ticket of Republican President Donald J. Trump and Vice President Michael R. Pence swept the state with 65.37% of the vote and receiving 1,020,280 votes. In second place was the Democrat nominee, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden and his running mate U.S. Senator Kamala D. Harris of California. They received 503,890 votes, for a 32.29% share of the vote. Also on the Oklahoma presidential ballot was the Libertarian Party candidate Jo Jorgensen and running mate Jeremy Spike Cohen, who received 1.58% of the vote.

In addition to the nominees of the three political parties, there were also three Independent presidential candidates. Rap star Kanye West was on the ballot with running mate Michelle Tidball. They received 0.36% of the vote. Concert pianist Jade Simmons and running mate Claudeliah J. Roze received 0.23% of the vote. And, Crypto-currency entrepreneur Brock Pierce and running mate Karla Ballard received 0.16% of the vote.

UNITED STATES CONGRESS

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. Only one of Oklahoma’s two U.S. Senate seats was up for election in 2020. Senator James Lankford was reelected in 2016 and his term will not be up until the 2022 election. Senator Jim Inhofe was reelected in 2014 and his term expired in 2020. 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.

U.S. Senator

Senator Jim Inhofe, 85, of Tulsa ran for another term in 2020. Inhofe has been a conservative leader since his days in the Oklahoma Legislature, as Mayor of Tulsa, his time in U.S. House of Representatives, and while in the U.S. Senate. Inhofe was first elected to the Senate in a special election in1994, and has been reelected with ease since then. In the 2020 election he had three challengers for the Republican nomination. There were four Democrats vying for their party’s nomination. There was also a Libertarian, and two independents running.

Senator Inhofe easily won the Republican nomination, and went on to win reelection in November with 62.91% of the vote. Of the four Democrats that were running, the best known was Abby Broyles, 30, of Oklahoma City. Broyles began working as a TV news reporter at age 20, and spent the majority of her TV career at KFOR, the NBC affiliate in Oklahoma City. She recently completed law school, passed the bar, and is opening her own law practice. She secured the Democrat nomination and finished second in the General Election with 32.75% of the vote.

Robert Murphy, 72, of Norman won the Libertarian nomination for the U.S. Senate in 2016. He has run for various other offices in the past, including several races for the U.S. House. He ran as a Libertarian when the party had ballot status, and in the other times as an Independent. Since he was the only Libertarian that filed this time, he automatically had a place on the ballot in November where he received 2.21% of the vote.

Two candidates filed as Independents and appeared on the ballot. Joan Farr, 64, of Tulsa is a pre-litigation consultant and legal reform activist. She ran for the seat in 2014. In the November election she received 1.39% of the vote. A. D. (April) Nesbit, 39, of Ada is college professor and biologist. She finished last with 0.73% of the vote.

U.S. Representative

District 1

First District (Tulsa area) incumbent Republican Kevin Hern, 58, was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2018. He replaced Congressman Jim Bridenstine who did not run for a fourth term and was nominated by President Trump to head the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Hern is the owner of KTAK Coorporation which owns and operates ten McDonald’s restaurants employing over 400 people in the Tulsa area. No other Republicans filed, but he was opposed by a Democrat and an Independent in the November election. Hern was reelected with 63.70% of the vote.

There were two Democrats competing for the nomination. Kojo Asamoa-Caesar, 33, of Tulsa is the son of immigrants and won the Democrat nomination. He is a law school graduate who chose to become a kindergarten teacher. He finished second with 32.68% of the vote.

Independent candidate Evelyn L. Rogers, 67, of Tulsa was also on the November ballot. She is a college librarian and perennial candidate. She ran for the U.S. Senate in 2008 and 2014, and six times for a seat in the U.S. House. She has also run for the Oklahoma Legislature. She received 3.62% of the vote.

District 2

The Second District covers 26 counties in eastern Oklahoma, stretching south from the Kansas state line to the Red River border with Texas. After the 2010 census and minor redistricting, the district remains the most Democratic in the state by registration.

Congressman Markwayne Mullin, 42, of Westville owns Mullin Plumbing which spans much of the state. He also has ranching operations in Adair and Wagoner counties. When he first ran for office in 2012, he said he would serve no more than six years in Congress, but decided to run for reelection in 2018 anyway. Mullin, who has a generally conservative voting record, was reelected in 2018 and ran again in 2020. Mullin was opposed for the Republican nomination this time by two other candidates and easily won renomination. He was reelected in November with 75.04% of the vote.

Danyell Lanier, 44, of Hugo was the only Democrat to file. In 2018, she was the Democrat candidate for Collin County court judge in Texas. She lost in the General Election after advancing from the primary. She finished second with just 22.00% of the vote.

Libertarian Richie Castaldo, 38, of Afton was also on the ballot. As in 2018, he was the only Libertarian to file. He is a street pastor with Grand Lake Life. He received 2.96% of the vote.

District 3

The third district covers most of the north central and northwestern parts of the state, including the panhandle. Congressman Frank Lucas, 60, 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. He is a former state representative and runs a ranching operation. He was unopposed for the Republican nomination and was reelected in November with 78.49% of the vote.

Zoe Midyett, 51, of Wellston was the only Democrat to file. In 2006, she took over her favorite feed store, Red Earth Feed & Tack, in Oklahoma City. She received 21.51% of the vote.

District 4

The Fourth District covers much of the south central and southwestern parts of the state. Congressman Tom Cole, 70, of Moore ran for reelection. Cole was first elected to Congress in 2002. While serving in the state Senate back in the 1989-90 time period Cole compiled an 80% Oklahoma Conservative Index score, placing him in the Top Conservatives list. However, his record in Congress has been markedly less conservative and he was challenged for the nomination in 2020 by three other Republicans. Cole easily won renomination and was reelected in November with 67.79% of the vote.

Three Democrats were competing for the nomination of their party. Mary Brannon, 68, of Washington won the nomination in 2018 and secured the nomination again this time. She is a teacher and school counselor. Brannon received 33% of the vote in the General Election against Cole in 2018, and 28.78% this time.

Also on the November ballot was Libertarian candidate Bob White, 71, of Norman who was the only Libertarian to file. He received 3.44% of the vote.

District 5

The big news coming out of the 2018 Oklahoma congressional elections was the flipping of the Fifth District seat from Republican to Democrat. 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. The Fifth District includes most of Oklahoma, Pottawatomie and Seminole counties in the central portion of the state.

Horn, 43, was a professional mediator and executive director of Women Lead Oklahoma which is a nonprofit organization working to empower women to be leaders and be engaged in civil activities. She had also served as press secretary for former Second District Congressman Brad Carson and previously managed political campaigns. She served as executive director of Sally’s List which supports women running for elected office. She lives in Oklahoma City and is a native of Chickasha.

In 2018, Horn won the Democrat runoff primary over Tom Guild who has been a perennial candidate. Guild, 65, of Edmond was the lone Democrat challenger to Horn this year, and she overwhelmingly won renomination.

Nine Republicans were competing in 2020 to return the seat to the GOP and State Sen. Stephanie Bice, 46, of Edmond securing the Republican nomination.

Bice was elected to the Oklahoma Senate in 2014 and reelected in 2018, and served as Assistant Majority Floor Leader in the Senate and Chair of the Senate Finance Committee. She is credited with modernizing Oklahoma’s liquor laws by engineering the first overhaul since 1959 when prohibition was repealed in the state. Although Bice is a moderate Republican, earning a 56% cumulative average on the Oklahoma Conservative Index for the six years that she has been in office, she is far more conservative than the liberal Congresswoman Horn. Bice won in November with 52.06% of the vote with Horn receiving 47.94%.

OKLAHOMA CORPORATION COMMISSION

The Oklahoma Corporation Commission regulates oil and gas drilling, electric and gas utilities, trucking, pipelines, and telecommunications in Oklahoma. There are three Corporation Commission seats with six-year staggered terms. So, every two years one of the seats is up for reelection. Dana Murphy was reelected in 2016, Bob Anthony in 2018, and former Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives, Todd Hiett, was elected commissioner in 2014. The seat held by Hiett was up for election in 2020.

Hiett, 52, is a rancher from Kellyville and was the first Republican House Speaker in Oklahoma since 1921. He earned a 73% cumulative rating on the Oklahoma Conservative Index during his tenure in the Legislature. Hiett was challenged for the Republican nomination, but easily won renomination.

No Democrats filed for the seat, but Hiett faced Libertarian candidate Todd Hagopian, 40, of Bixby. Hagopian previously ran for the Bixby Public Schools school board and lost in the primary election. Hagopian has been the President of Unarco for two years, and previously was a business unit manager for US Weigh Wrap Division in Dayton, Ohio and before that he worked as a Senior Sales Manager for Whirlpool Corporation.

Hiett won the seat for another six-year term with 76.10% of the vote. Hagopian received 23.90%.