By Constitution Staff

While the 2024 election cycle came to an end with the General Election last November 5, there were four vacant seats in the Oklahoma Legislature to be filled by the time the 2025 legislative session got under way. The vacancies were the result of the resignation of a senator and three representatives. Due to the timing of those resignations, voters in those legislative districts did not have representation for all or most of the 2025 legislative session.

SENATE DISTRICT 8

State Sen. Roger Thompson (R-Okemah) resigned his seat with two years remaining in his final term. Thompson was elected in 2014 and was chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. He was replaced in that position during the budget negotiations near the end of the 2024 legislative session. Thompson later announced that he would resign effective November 1, 2024, to become the CEO and Executive Director of the Oklahoma Osteopathic Association. The Senate District 8 seat includes Okmulgee, Okfuskee and McIntosh counties and portions of Creek and Muskogee counties in eastern Oklahoma.

Governor Stitt set the Special Election dates to fill the remaining two years of Thompson’s term. Eight candidates filed during the January 6-8, 2025, filing period, including six Republicans, one Democrat, and an independent.

In the Republican Primary Election on March 4, no candidate received over 50 percent of the vote, which necessitated a runoff between the top two candidates, Bryan Logan (41%) and David Nelson (32%). In the Runoff Primary Election on April 1, Bryan Logan defeated David Nelson with 56% of the vote and faced a Democrat and an independent in the May 13 Special General Election.

Nathan Brewer, 41, of Henryetta was the only candidate to file for the Democrat nomination. Brewer’s daughter was one of six murder victims in a 2023 mass murder-suicide in Henryetta. Steve Sanford, 58, of Henryetta ran as an independent. He serves on the Henryetta City Council where he is also vice mayor.

Logan won the election with 61% of the vote, defeating Brewer (29%) and Sanford (8%). Logan, 41, of Paden has served as pastor at Paden Pentecostal Holiness Church since 2009. He has been a small business owner in the residential construction and custom carpentry industry since 2005, and also raises cattle. Since 2016, he has served on the Oklahoma Construction Industries Board and is Secretary/Treasurer with the Oklahoma Building Inspectors Association. Since 2010, he has been on the Residential and Commercial Advisory Board for Gordon Cooper Technology Center.

Logan was officially sworn in as the State Senator for District 8 in a ceremony on the Senate Floor on May 21, returning the Senate to its full complement of 48 senators. The seat will be up for a full four-year term in 2026.

HOUSE DISTRICT 74

A Special Election was held to fill the vacancy in House District 74, due to the resignation of Rep. Mark Vancuren (R-Owasso) on January 1, 2025. Former State Rep. Lonnie Sims (R-Jenks) did not run for reelection in 2024, and instead ran for District 2 Tulsa County Commissioner. Sims won the office in the November election and the newly elected commissioner appointed Vancuren to be his deputy commissioner. Vancuren was elected to the House in 2018, the same year as Sims. He was just elected to another term in November. In his resignation announcement, Vancuren said that his wife, Sheila Vancuren, would run for the open seat.

Governor Stitt set the candidate filing period for the Special Election for January 27- 29, 2025. Five Republicans filed for the open seat. In the Republican Primary Election on April 1, no candidate received over 50 percent of the vote, which necessitated a runoff between the top two candidates. So, Sheila Vancuren (28%) and Kevin Wayne Norwood (21%) met in the special Runoff Election on May 13. Kevin Norwood defeated Sheila Vancuren 51% to 49% in the runoff primary. Norwood then faced Democrat Amy Hossain in the June 10 special General Election. Hossain, 49, was the only Democrat to file. She was born in South Korea and was later adopted by a farm family in Kansas. She has spent her professional career working in human resources. Norwood defeated Hossain, 65% to 35 percent.

Norwood, 57, is the senior pastor at the Owasso First Assembly of God and previously worked as the church’s youth pastor. He was sworn into office on June 18.

HOUSE DISTRICT 71

State Rep. Monroe Nichols (D-Tulsa) did not run for reelection in 2024, and instead sucessfully ran for mayor of Tulsa. On December 12, the new Tulsa Mayor announced that Rep. Amanda Swope (D-Tulsa) would join his administration as Tulsa’s new director of Tribal Policy & Partnerships beginning on January 29, 2025. Swope is a descendant of the Osage Nation and a citizen of the Muscogee Nation where she is employed as the Director of Tribal Juvenile Justice. She was first elected to her House seat in 2022 and was reelected to a second term on November 5, 2024. Rep. Swope resigned the House District 71 seat effective January 28, 2025.

Governor Stitt set the candidate filing period for the Special Election to be January 27-29, 2025. The Special Primary Elections were held on April 1. Three Republicans filed for the seat and since no candidate received over 50 percent of the vote, the top two contenders Beverly Atteberry (49%) and Tania Garza (29%) competed for the nomination in the Runoff Primary on May 13. Atteberry, 57, is an attorney who ran for the seat in 2018 and 2020, but lost in the Republican runoff both times. She worked for the Tulsa County Public Defender’s Office until starting her own legal practice in 1998. Garza, 35, is an integration specialist who works as a “cultural connector” helping Tulsa Remote grantees integrate into the community. Atteberry won the Republican runoff primary 66% to 33% and faced Democrat Amanda Clinton in the June 10 special General Election.

Clinton, 46, won the special Democratic Primary with 51% of the vote over three other candidates. She worked in television for KWTV, KTKA and KTUL before starting work in the Cherokee Nation’s communications department in 2005. She left the Cherokee Nation position 2020 and has her own communications firm. In the special General Election on June 10, Clinton defeated Atteberry, 85% to 15 percent, and was sworn into office on June 18.

HOUSE DISTRICT 97

State Rep. Jason Lowe (D-Oklahoma City) won the Special General Election for Oklahoma County District 1 Commissioner and resigned his House District 97 seat effective April 7. The House District 97 seat includes portions of northeastern Oklahoma City along with Spencer, Forest Park, Lake Aluma and portions of Jones and Midwest City. He was elected to the Oklahoma House in 2016 and served as a Chairman of the Oklahoma Legislative Black Caucus. Lowe succeeds former Democrat Commissioner Carrie Blumert who resigned to accept a position within the private sector.

Governor Stitt set the candidate filing period to fill Lowe’s vacant House seat for April 21-23, 2025. Only two Democrats filed for the seat and competed in the June 10 Democratic Primary Election. Aletia Haynes Timmons, 64, of Oklahoma City is a former Oklahoma County District Judge. Jekia Harrison, 35, of Oklahoma City has worked for the Oklahoma Department of Human Services and has served as a Legislative Assistant in the Oklahoma House of Representatives. Timmons defeated Harrison in the primary 59% to 41 percent. Since no candidates of other parties, or independents filed, the winner of the primary election filled the vacant seat. Timmons was sworn into office on June 18.

Norwood, Clinton, and Timmons will have to run for full terms next year to retain their seats. With the election of the three new representatives on June 10, the Oklahoma House is again comprised of 81 Republicans and 20 Democrats. House Speaker Kyle Hilbert (R-Bristow) said, “It is great to have our full 101 House members seated, ready to do the people’s business throughout the interim and into the 2026 legislative session.”