term limits
Lawmakers chat at the Oklahoma State Capitol in this file photo from November 2017. None of the three men filed for re-election, two of them owing to term limits. (Elizabeth Sims)

Since State Question 632 passed in 1990, Oklahoma lawmakers have been subject to 12-year term limits in both the House and the Senate. For the 2018 election cycle, legislators in 12 House districts and six Senate districts will reach the end of their terms, in turn creating an influx of new blood come next session.

The following House districts will have no incumbent:

6, 11, 15, 17, 25, 31, 41, 77, 79, 82, 83 and 94

The following Senate districts will have no incumbent:

16, 24, 32, 26, 38 and 48.

By the end of the filing period Friday, 87 candidates had filed to compete for those 18 seats that are open because of term limits.

By the numbers

There are 51 Republicans, 34 Democrats and two Independents running for the open seats. HD 82 has the largest field, with 13 candidates (12 Republicans and one Democrat) running for Rep. Kevin Calvey’s (R-OKC) term-limited seat. HD 11 as well as Senate district 38 have only two candidates. Every single race has at least one Democrat running, while HD 99 has no Republican in the field.

#OklaEd runs for #OKLeg

Following the announced end of recent teacher protests at the Capitol, at least 13 educators are running for Oklahoma’s open districts:

Oklahoma’s party primaries will be June 26. For more details, see the spreadsheet below:

https://nondoc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/2018-Open-Race-Candidates-NONDOC-Update1.xlsx” height=”450px” download=”all” viewer=”microsoft”]

List of candidates who have already won by default

The following 20 candidates — seven Republicans and 13 Democrats — were automatically re-elected to their current seat by virtue of drawing no opponent for 2018:

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Who filed for the #okleg? 21 eligible incumbents pursue other options by William W. Savage III

(Editor’s note: This story was updated at 12:30 p.m. Thursday, April 19, to note that Rep. Dustin Roberts’ only challenger withdrew his candidacy. The spreadsheet was also updated.)

  • Ben White

    After a 2018 internship with NonDoc, Ben served as the site's Student Editor until December 2019, helping publish Gaylord College students' work.

  • Ben White

    After a 2018 internship with NonDoc, Ben served as the site's Student Editor until December 2019, helping publish Gaylord College students' work.