Five candidates are seeking the House District 15 seat in the June 18 Republican primary. Rep. Randy Randleman (R-Eufaula), who has held the seat since 2018, is not running for reelection.
The candidates in HD 15, which covers Haskell, LeFlore, McIntosh, Muskogee and Pittsburg counties, are:
- Gail Jackson, a retiree;
- Casey Johnson, a former Nashville recording artist and business consultant;
- Spring Morrow, a health care professional;
- Paul Palmer, a senior pastor and small business owner; and
- Tim Turner, a former Haskell County sheriff who is the drug task force director for District 27 District Attorney Jack Thorp.
On May 16, the Stigler News-Sentinel produced a video of a HD 15 debate at Stigler High School. Each candidate but Johnson attended.
For the June 18 primary election, polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
If no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote June 18, the top two finishers will head to an Aug. 27 runoff. Only Republicans filed for the seat, so whoever wins the Republican nomination will win the House District 15 seat.
The following cheat sheet for the HD 15 primary election includes information from publicly available sources, such as campaign websites, the debate and social media. Candidates are presented in alphabetical order.
Gail Jackson
Age: 74
Profession/background: Jackson spent most of her career working within the petroleum industry in positions ranging from field work to administration. Although she is retired, she often volunteers and has worked as a poll worker in past election cycles.
Platform: Jackson does not appear to have a campaign website or social media accounts, but during the HD 15 debate held May 16, Jackson said she wants to increase community involvement in the district.
“I want to take the position itself as a House representative back to the communities (…) the community should be making the decisions,” said Jackson. “We are interested in our daily activities and how we are going to survive. That’s why I said the money’s on you. How do you want to spend your money? What is important to you?”
In her responses to the five questions asked during the debate, Jackson touched on topics such as her concerns over foreign ownership of Oklahoma farms and ranches, increasing “structure” in the home, recruiting and retaining doctors in rural areas, and state infrastructure.
Online: N/A
Casey Johnson
Age: 43
Profession/background: Casey Johnson earned a bachelor’s degree from St. Gregory’s University in 2005. According to his campaign website, Johnson has previously worked in government, handling Department of Defense contracts, and in real estate, oil field manufacturing, medical manufacturing, cell tower construction, grant writing, residential and commercial internet, cell phone repair and the satellite retailer business.
In addition, Johnson has a side career as a country music singer, releasing a six-song album titled Once A Cowboy in 2009.
Platform: Johnson states he is a proud conservative whose platform — “Fight for What’s Right” — focuses on protecting traditional values. He lists multiple issues his campaign plans to focus on, including fighting for better roads, protecting children, protecting the unborn, supporting public safety, cutting regulations and “protect Oklahoma sportsman/ rodeo/ cattle/ farmer.”
On June 10, Johnson posted on Facebook to “refute some rumors” he said began circulating recently alleging that he had been convicted of a felony charge. Johnson posted his concealed carry license and said he had to pass an Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation background check, proving he is not the same “Casey Johnson” whose criminal record has been discussed in the campaign.
“Sometimes people make things up about a person, but the truth always comes to light,” Johnson said. “Evidence will always outweigh allegations.”
Spring Morrow
Age: 42
Profession/background: Morrow graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 2005 and studied to become a nurse at the Moore Norman Technology Center in 2004. She has worked in the health care industry for more than 20 years and currently works as the director of sales, marketing and business development at Diakonos Group, LLC, a locally owned health care company.
At the May 16 debate, she said she has acted as a liaison between hospital patients and health care providers for the last 12 years while also running a small cattle company in McIntosh County — Morrow Cattle Co. — with her husband, Monty, since 2019.
Morrow is active in multiple organizations, such as serving on the board of the eastern Oklahoma division of the Case Management Society of America, and she is the vice president of the Green Country Cattlewomen’s Association.
Platform: According to her website, Morrow advocates for “lower taxes, supports small businesses, upholds traditional family values, and is deeply committed to assisting Oklahoma families, particularly grandparents raising grandchildren.”
As stated on Morrow’s website, “Spring’s primary focus is on representing the voices of her constituents and implementing the changes they desire. She is dedicated to being a true representative of the people in her district, ensuring their needs are met and their voices are heard.”
During the debate, Morrow touched on acting as a liaison between the government and her constituents, supporting generational farms and ranches, fighting to properly appropriate the state’s revenue, combating homelessness, getting more physicians to rural areas, and planning to hold town halls and more public forums as a state representative.
Paul Palmer
Age: 68
Profession/background: Palmer is a U.S. Army veteran and was in the insurance industry for 13 years before choosing “family over insurance.” He has served as a senior pastor for the last 13 years and is the founder of Patriots in Christ Inc., a small business and Christian ministry he started in 2019 in McIntosh County. The ministry “was born out of a command received from God to see men reconnect with their heavenly father.”
Palmer has served as the chairman of the Pittsburg County Republican Party. In March, he and Randleman reportedly had a confrontation during a meeting.
Platform: Palmer’s platform is, “We the People of Oklahoma,” which characterizes his understanding of Oklahoma’s family values as well as constituents’ “God-given constitutional rights.”
On his website, Palmer lists four tools he would use as his guide in the House of Representatives: God’s Word, the Republican platform, the U.S. Constitution and the Oklahoma Constitution.
During the HD 15 debate, Palmer spoke about raising healthy families, uplifting small businesses in Oklahoma, stopping any federal overreach and control of resources, fighting insurance companies dictating policy in health care, and opening up communications so the people’s voices are heard.
Tim Turner
Age: 40
Profession/background: As listed on his campaign website, Turner began his longtime career in law enforcement as a 911 dispatcher and went on to serve in positions such as police chief, detention deputy, deputy sheriff and drug task force agent/supervisor.
Although he is running for the Legislature as a Republican, Turner was elected Haskell County sheriff as a Democrat in 2016 and 2020, receiving 74 percent support as a Democrat in a county then-President Donald Trump won with 83 percent support. In 2021, Turner was named Sheriff of the Year by the Oklahoma Sheriffs Association, and in March 2022 Gov. Kevin Stitt appointed Turner to the OSBI Commission. In November 2022, Turner resigned as sheriff to work in the Department of Corrections’ Office of Inspector General before taking his current job as the drug task force director for District 27 District Attorney Jack Thorp.
Platform: Turner, who has been endorsed by Choctaw Nation Chief Gary Batton, the Oklahoma Farm Bureau and Oklahomans for Health and Parental Rights, describes himself as someone who will bring “tough, conservative MAGA leadership” to HD 15. His platform focuses on strengthening national borders, combating human trafficking, defending law and order, advocating for economic responsibility, and protecting traditional values, all of which are explained on his website.
“I’ve faced the toughest challenges in law enforcement, and I’m ready to face the challenges that matter most to our community,” Turner states online. “Together, we’ll build a stronghold for conservative principles and secure the future of Oklahoma.”
More specifically, Turner notes that he plans to “fight back against illegal immigration, stop human trafficking, crack down on illegal marijuana operations, defend the Second Amendment, lower taxes, and fight (President Joe) Biden’s inflation.”
Turner has faced criticism on Facebook for a 2022 investigative audit report conducted by the State Auditor & Inspector’s Office in response to a request from Turner that District Attorney Chuck Sullivan ask for the audit. Findings noted that “between July 2016 and August 2019, Monica (Mona) Ellison, then administrative assistant and financial deputy of the Haskell County Sheriff’s Office, misappropriated 56 cash bond transactions totaling more than $25,000.” In response to Facebook posts from the anonymous City of Stigler News and Moore page, Turner has emphasized that he only took office in December 2016. His name is not included in the audit report.
“Please please keep mud slinging because it don’t help campaign of your candidate,” Turner wrote on Facebook.
While Turner spoke out against the idea of COVID-19 vaccine mandates as sheriff, he also detailed his own experience after he contracted COVID and was hospitalized in an ICU.
