Selman, Thompson move on to General Election

June 25--Democratic challenger Ross Selman upset incumbent District 3 Pittsburg County Commissioner Trent Myers in the Tuesday Primary Election, while Micah Thompson won the Republican Primary for the District 17 state House race.

Both candidates now move on to the Nov. 4 General Election.

Selman will face Republican candidate Miles Cathey in the District 3 General Election, while Thompson will challenge District 17 State Rep. Dr. Brian Renegar, a Democrat, in the General Election for the state House seat.

In other local elections, Haileyville voters passed a franchise proposition for Public Service Co. of Oklahoma, while Kiowa passed a franchise measure for CenterPoint Energy.

Kiowa also passed a 2 percent sales tax measure for street, road and alleyways improvements and construction by a three-vote margin, 40-to-37.

In other races, incumbent District 2 U.S.

Markwayne Mullin, R-Westville, easily outdistanced challenger Darrell Robertson by a vote of 981 to 240 in Pittsburg County. Mullin also carried the district with nearly 80 percent of the vote.

On the Democratic side Earl Everett carried the state with 62.2 percent, and carried Pittsburg County with 63 percent of the vote in the primary.

U.S. Sen. James Inhofe obliterated his four GOP Primary challengers. Inhofe received 1,071 GOP ballots in Pittsburg County, for 87.14 percent of the vote, while statewide Inhofe garnered 228,347 ballots, for 87.7 percent of the total ballots cast.

The election for state superintendent of education has received a lot of attention, with incumbent Janet Barresi going down to defeat in Pittsburg County and across the state.

GOP challenger Joy Hoffmeister carried Pittsburg County, with 669 ballots, compared to 294 for Brian Kelley and 251 for Barresi.

Hoffmeister also carried the state, with 57.6 percent of the vote, compared to 21.4 percent of Kelly and 21 percent for Barresi.

On the Democratic side in the state superintendent's race, Democrat John Cox carried Pittsburg County, receiving 1,869 votes or nearly 58 percent of the total ballots cast.

However, statewide Cox didn't get enough votes to avoid a runoff, and he appears ready to face fellow Democrat Freda Deskin in an Aug. 26 run-off election.

In another race that garnered statewide and national attention, District 5 U.S. Rep. James Lankford carried the GOP Primary in Pittsburg County, barely edging former state House Speaker T.W. Shannon by a vote of 564-545, with none of the other candidates even close.

Lankford fared even better statewide, receiving 57.3 percent of the vote in the seven-candidate GOP field, enough to avoid a run-off with Shannon, who had 34.4 percent.

On the Democratic side, Connie Johnson received 43.8 percent, while Jim Rogers had 35.3 percent, setting up an August run-off. Rogers had carried Pittsburg County with 43.30 percent of the vote.

In other races, GOP voters in Pittsburg County gave Gov. Mary Fallin 77 percent of the vote, with Fallin receiving 77.5 percent statewide.

State Insurance Commissioner John Doak received 72 percent of the vote in Pittsburg County and also won statewide.

Contact James Beaty at jbeaty@mcalesternews.

com.

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