By John Dobberstein, Editor
Former state senator Mike Mazzei cruised to an easy victory in the Oklahoma governor’s race, handing Democratic candidate Cyndi Munson a near double-digit defeat on Tuesday.
Mazzei, whose candidacy was backed by President Donald Trump, had a 8-point lead (53% vs. 45%) on Munson with nearly 90% of precincts reporting. Even with a wide advantage in early and absentee voting, Mazzei was able to overcome it on election day.
In the lieutenant governor’s race, T.W. Shannon scored an even more impressive victory, defeating Democratic challenger Kelly Forbes by 19 points.
Republicans dominated the other statewide races as well. John Echols (56%) was easily leading the attorney general race against Democratic opponent Nicky Coffey. Cindy Byrd (state treasurer) and Robert Franklin (supt. of public instruction) also easily won their races.
In the Senate, Republican candidate Kevin Hern easily won his election bid, defeating Democrat N’Kiyla Jasmine Thomas 58% to 38% with 90% of precincts reporting.
Hern indicated his priorities would be working with President Trump and Senate colleagues to lower costs and focus on promoting American energy and support law enforcement and military service members.
“This election was a choice between common sense and communism, and Oklahoma overwhelmingly chose common sense,” Hern said in a statement Tuesday night. “I’m incredibly honored to have earned the trust of Oklahomans to represent our great state in the U.S. Senate, and I’ll fight every day to ensure their values are represented in Washington.”
Replacing Hern in as U.S. House representative in District 1 will be Mark Tedford, who defeated Democrat John Croisant with 52% of the vote.
Tedford and Tulsa minister Jackson Lahmeyer had emerged in the primary to face a runoff election, but Lahmeyer dropped out of the race due to a texting and affair scandal that unfolded. Trump initially passed over Tedford for his endorsement before changing his mind after Lahmeyer dropped out.
BA lawmakers win
State Rep. Ross Ford (R-Broken Arrow), State Rep. Stan May (R-Broken Arrow) and State Sen. John Haste easily won their re-election bids on Tuesday in districts 76, 80 and 36.
Ford defeated Democrat Michael Tinsley 55% to 44%, and Haste defeated Democrat Rick Larsen 55% to 44%. May defeated Jeremy Founds 60% to 39%.
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