Half of Oklahoma House members seeking 2024 reelection win by default

Friday, April 5, 2024

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Oklahoma House members win by default — State Reps. Brad Boles (R-Marlow) and Erick Harris (R-Edmond) conclude their candidate filing activities Wednesday, April 3, 2024, in the Oklahoma State Capitol. (Tres Savage)

Half of the 88 members of the House of Representatives seeking reelection won another term Friday without a contest.

After the three-day legislative filing period, which ended at 5 p.m. Friday, 44 House members seeking reelection did not draw an opponent.

Republicans have the early lead in the makeup of the 101-member House for the 2025-2026 legislative session, with 36 Republicans and eight Democrats winning their seats uncontested. For the current Legislature, Republicans have an 81-20 edge. Legislative terms begin shortly after the Nov. 5 general elections.

Among the 44 House members reelected without opposition is the chamber’s new leader, Speaker Pro Tempore Kyle Hilbert (R-Bristow). House Republicans last month designated him as the next speaker.

Four powerful leaders in the House are term-limited, having served six two-year terms and being prohibited from further legislative service. They are Speaker Charles McCall (R-Atoka), Majority Floor Leader Jon Echols (R-OKC), Assistant Majority Floor Leader Mark McBride (R-Moore), who also serves as chairman of the House Appropriations and Budget Committee’s education subcommittee, and Majority Whip Terry O’Donnell (R-Catoosa).

Nine other incumbents chose not to seek reelection.

Rep. Rhonda Baker, (R-Yukon) chairwomen of the House Common Education Committee, did not seek a fifth term. Rep. Regina Goodwin (D-Tulsa), is running instead for a seat in the Oklahoma Senate, and Rep. Monroe Nichols (D-Tulsa) is seeking the office of mayor in Tulsa.

Rep. Jeff Boatman (R-Tulsa) did not seek reelection to run for a Senate seat, and Reps. Sherrie Conley (R-Newcastle) and Mauree Turner (D-OKC) also did not seek another term. Turner, the first nonbinary person and the first Muslim elected to the Oklahoma Legislature, said they are stepping away after two terms because of health issues.

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Censured last year for not cooperating with a law enforcement investigation at the Capitol, Turner was removed from committees pending an apology. That apology never came, and Turner has not served on committees this session.

Others not seeking reelection are Reps. Randy Randleman (R-Eufaula), Marcus McEntire (R-Duncan) and Lonnie Sims (R-Jenks), who filed instead for an open Tulsa County commissioner post.

The deadline for candidates to contest the qualifications of an opponent is 5 p.m. Tuesday, April 9. Hearings for contestations of candidacies will be scheduled Thursday, April 18, and — if needed — Friday, April 19, before the Oklahoma State Election Board.

Oklahoma County clerk who resigned in disgrace files

Meanwhile, among those seeking reelection, House Minority Leader Cyndi Munson drew former Oklahoma County Clerk David Hooten as an opponent.

Hooten, a Republican, resigned in June 2022 as Oklahoma County clerk just days before county commissioners were planning to vote to allow the district attorney to file a petition to remove Hooten from office. The sheriff’s office had begun a sexual harassment investigation in response to complaints from two female employees who worked in Hooten’s office. Raising additional questions about Hooten was an audio recording in which Hooten claimed he is “genetically altered” so that he “doesn’t get drunk no matter what.”

While Hooten resigned from his county post, he continued his bid for state treasurer that year. He finished last in a three-candidate GOP primary in June 2022, receiving 17.6 percent of the vote.

Hooten, a trumpet player who has previously campaigned by referring to himself as “Rootin’ Tootin’ David B. Hooten,” will face off against Munson (D-OKC) in the Nov. 5 general election. Neither drew a primary opponent.

After Hooten filed Thursday, Munson posted on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, that she has never taken any of her races for granted, “but especially won’t when a man who preys on his female employees as an elected official tries to come after me just to gain more power and harm more people.”

One lawmaker who lacks Hooten’s claimed imperviousness to alcohol drew three opponents for his first reelection effort since his second intoxication-related arrest. Rep. Dean Davis (R-Broken Arrow) will face Gabe Woolley, 29, and J. David Taylor, 55, in the Republican primary. The winner will advance to face Democrat Cathy Smythe, 69.

Like Turner, Davis was also censured and removed from committees following his 2023 interaction with police, but Davis did apologize and was reinstated on committees this year.

Meanwhile, 55-year-old Rep. Kevin Wallace (R-Wellston), chairman of the House Appropriations and Budget Committee, also drew opposition as he seeks his sixth and final term. Challengers are Jason Shilling, 48, of Perkins, and Jim Shaw, 39, of Chandler. Both are Republicans.

Rep. Erick Harris (R-Edmond), who won election in February to the House District 39 seat, came close to winning his first full term unopposed. But Friday afternoon, one of his challengers in the Feb. 13 election, Libertarian Richard Prawdzienski, filed for the seat. Harris received 50.37 percent of the vote in the three-candidate special election. Prawdzienski received 4.5 percent of the vote.

Asked during a debate why he continues to run for public office every election cycle despite generally losing by wide margins, Prawdzienski replied: “This year, I might get lucky.”

Minority Floor Leader Andy Fugate (D-OKC), 55, faces an election in November as Suzanne Jobe, 50, of Del City, filed against him as a Republican in the closing minutes of Friday’s filing period.

Representatives winning another term by default because no one filed against them are: