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:
- Randy Randleman in HD 15,
- Shawn Howard and Ronny Johns in HD 25,
- Angela Moffitt-Jones in HD 31,
- Laura Griesel in HD 41,
- Nanette Hagen in HD 62,
- John Waldron in HD 77,
- Casey Saterlee and Gregory Mills in HD 82,
- Mary Boren and Aleisha Karjala in SD 16,
- Renee Jerden in SD 24,
- and Jacobi Crowley in SD 32.
Oklahoma’s party primaries will be June 26. For more details, see the spreadsheet below:
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:
- Sen. Darcy Jech (R-Kingfisher)
- Sen. J.J. Dossett (D-Owasso)
- Sen. Michael Brooks (D-OKC)
- Sen. Kay Floyd (D-OKC)
- Rep. Johnny Tadlock (D-Idabel)
- Rep. Matt Meredith (D-Tahlequah)
- Rep. Dustin Roberts (R-Durant)
- Rep. Emily Virgin (D-Norman)
- Rep. Marcus McEntire (R-Duncan)
- Rep. Brad Boles (R-Marlow)
- Rep. Charles Ortega (R-Altus)
- Rep. Carl Newton (R-Cherokee)
- Rep. Mike Sanders (R-Kingfisher)
- Rep. Regina Goodwin (D-Tulsa)
- Rep. Collin Walke (D-OKC)
- Rep. Jason Dunnington (D-OKC)
- Rep. Shane Stone (D-OKC)
- Rep. Forrest Bennett (D-OKC)
- Rep. Mickey Dollens (D-OKC)
- Rep. Jason Lowe (D-OKC)
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(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.)
