Incumbents from four of Oklahoma’s five congressional districts are attempting to defend their offices on Nov. 5, with only U.S. Rep Frank Lucas (R-OK3) being unopposed in the 2024 general election.
In the race to represent Oklahoma in the U.S. House of Representatives, four Democrats and three independent candidates across the four races hope to unseat U.S. Reps. Kevin Hern (R-OK1), Josh Brecheen (R-OK2), Tom Cole (R-OK4) and Stephanie Bice (R-OK5).
With the presidential race on the same ballot and concerns about election security mounting as ballot boxes burn and former President Donald Trump claims the only way he can lose is if Democrats “cheat,” some challengers believe it is worth noting that all of five Oklahoma’s representatives voted against certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election.
The following article summarizes the Oklahoma congressional races and their candidates based on publicly available information.
Hern faces two challengers in CD 1
While control over the U.S. House of Representatives is up for grabs Nov. 5, the road to victory for either party likely won’t be running through Oklahoma’s 1st Congressional District where U.S. Rep. Kevin Hern is a heavy favorite to beat Democrat Dennis Baker. Independent Mark Sanders rounds out the three-man field.
The district includes almost all of Tulsa and its largest suburbs: Broken Arrow, Owasso and Bixby.
Hern, a McDonald’s franchisee-turned-politician, is running for his fourth term and has raised about $1.7 million this cycle. He was briefly mentioned as a replacement for former GOP House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Hern, 62, sits on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee and is a member of more than a dozen caucus groups. Should he win reelection, Hern could challenge for the House GOP policy chairmanship. Hern has been a strong supporter of former President Donald Trump, voting against his impeachment twice. Hern also denied the results of the 2020 presidential election and voted against certifying its results.
Hern supports repealing the Affordable Care Act, citing the program’s cost.
“The best quality and choice of care is given through a free-market driven health care system,” Hern’s website states. “It is that type of free-market system Americans appreciate about our options in health care, not federal government over-regulation.”
Hern would also support legislation to strengthen border security and has been a longtime critic of President Joe Biden’s immigration policies.
“Watching Biden hand down border policies is giving me whiplash,” Hern said in a press release earlier this year. “Just a few weeks ago, he signed an order pretending to shut down the border, but now he’s incentivizing illegal immigration by granting parole. It’s incoherent policymaking — who is he trying to appease? These intentionally deceptive executive orders are doing nothing to stop the invasion at our border or the flow of deadly fentanyl into our communities.”
Endorsed by the Tulsa World, Baker is running for a seat Democrats have not held since 1987. A citizen of the Muscogee Nation, Baker served as a Tulsa Police Department officer before joining the FBI and becoming a special agent. Baker also has a law degree from the University of Tulsa and practices law in Tulsa.
On his website, Baker says he began thinking about running for office in the wake of the 2020 election and violence on Jan. 6, 2021, which left him dismayed at what he calls “MAGA extremism.” In an interview with Mvskoke Media, he recalled 9/11, which occurred while he was an FBI agent. He said the event inspired him to get more involved with national security issues and counterterrorism efforts, and he said the insurrection attempt similarly made him want to get more involved with politics.
“I said, ‘At some point, I want to be involved in this.’ There’s another threat for this country, a threat of extremism, a different type of extremism, and at some level, I want to be involved,” he said. “And as I began to research, as I saw how our elected representatives had voted during that event, they voted to a person to not certify our presidential election. I saw how my opponent in this race voted not to certify it. I said, ‘I want to do more,’ and it led me eventually to running for office.”
Baker, 69, said he would work to pass a bipartisan border security bill, protect Social Security benefits from cuts and ensure NATO is supported amid growing threats from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Sanders, CD 1’s independent candidate, was born and raised in Tulsa and is now an attorney and partner at GableGotwals, a large law firm with offices in Tulsa, Houston and OKC. If elected, Sanders states online that his biggest priorities would include supporting tariffs to encourage manufacturing in the U.S. instead of overseas. He would also support broad tax reform, including the gradual elimination of the federal income tax on salaries and wages while phasing in a steeply graduated wealth tax.
Sanders, 64, wrote on his website that he chose to run as an independent because he doesn’t believe the two major parties have much to offer average voters.
“If you hadn’t noticed, our nation is as fractured and polarized as it has been since the Civil War,” his website states. “And that chasm has opened largely along partisan political lines. If we are to survive as a civil society, we have to begin to search fervently for ways to span that divide so that an enduring healing can occur. We need courageous individuals to shun party labels, and spend their time, energy and political capital looking for ways to build bridges rather than digging deeper trenches.”
Sanders, who is a cancer survivor, also supports universal single-payer medical coverage modeled after Medicare that would be available to all legal residents regardless of age or income. Sanders would support making supplemental private insurance available for those who choose to opt out. Paid family leave up to six weeks per year to care for a new child, disabled family member or personal medical condition is another priority if elected.
Brecheen faces two challengers in CD 2
First elected in 2022 to fill the seat vacated by now-U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), U.S. Rep. Josh Brecheen is facing challenges from Democrat Brandon Wade and independent Ronnie Hopkins for the rural seat encompassing nearly all of eastern Oklahoma. Both Brecheen and Wade ran unopposed in their primaries.
Brecheen, 45, is a former state senator from Coalgate. He emerged from a 14-candidate Republican primary in 2022 to win the congressional seat once held by his former boss, the late U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn. Since he has been in office, Brecheen has pushed to cut spending and address the national debt. He has also stated his support for decriminalizing cockfighting.
On his website, Brecheen maintains that he is committed to serving a maximum of four terms, totaling eight years. He also emphasizes his goal to “reform” Congress.
“The federal government has evolved beyond anything the founders of our nation intended or even imagined. We must reduce Washington’s influence in our daily lives,” Brecheen states on the Issues Page of his website. “The most effective way to do that is to pass term limits on members of Congress.”
His official U.S. House website outlines his national debt concerns.
“Our national debt currently stands at more than $33 trillion. That means that as of today, each taxpayer is on the hook for more than $255,000, and each citizen owes more than $98,000 from the moment they are born,” the site states. “Because of deficit spending (which devalues our currency), inflation now costs the average American family of four roughly $1,200 more per month to buy the exact same goods and services as compared to January 2021 when President Biden assumed office. Our continual debt loading is pushing our nation towards a fiscal collision that must be averted before it is too late.”
Wade, 48, says on his website that he grew up in Copan and lives in Bartlesville. He has been chairman and vice president of the executive board of IUOE Local 351, a union for operating engineers. He emphasizes his union work as a reason for getting into the race.
“I will take my union experience and the tools I’ve learned to Congress,” Wade states online. “To represent people, you must first learn how to listen to people. You must be able to hear what the body wants to do, listen to the company, then come up with a solution that works for both parties. That approach is what is missing from our government. We’re taking party sides instead of listening to the people about what needs to be addressed. I will always represent the interest of my constituents in CD 2, regardless of what party affiliation they may have.”
On his website, Ronnie Hopkins, 68, says he is running as an independent so as not to be controlled by political parties. He lists some items in his platform, saying he supports “biblical principles,” “turning Social Security into a real trust fund,” and “cutting foreign aid.”
The winner of the election will serve two years in the House of Representatives. Additionally, the winner will be part of the Congress that oversees the counting of presidential electoral votes on Jan. 6. In 2021, all five of Oklahoma’s House representatives voted against certifying some electoral votes from the 2020 presidential election, citing issues with the electoral process that have been widely debunked. Brecheen was not in the House on Jan. 6, 2021.
Cole seeks 12th term in CD 4
U.S. Rep. Tom Cole, 75, has represented Oklahoma’s 4th Congressional District since 2002. He faces challenges from Democrat Mary Brannon, 72, and independent candidate James Stacy, 60.
Cole previously defeated Paul Bondar — who is now suing news agencies for their coverage of his campaign — in the June primary with more than 64 percent of the vote. Cole is the chairman of the influential Appropriations Committee, the House committee key to the allocation of federal spending.
According to Cole’s campaign website, he has voted for the lowest proposed budget every year he has been in Congress, and he advocates against “insane spending programs from the Biden administration.”
“While dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic placed the country in a position to spend trillions of dollars to protect the economy, develop vaccines in the most comprehensive public/private partnership since World War II with Project Warp Speed, and protect families, Tom believes we must look at addressing our national debt,” the website states.
Cole’s website says lower federal spending, in conjunction with lower taxes and less bureaucratic red tape, will spur economic development.
Brannon, a retired teacher, has previously challenged Cole in 2018, 2020 and 2022. She received 33 percent, 28.8 percent and 33.3 percent of the vote in each race, respectively. According to her website, her top three priorities are preventing cuts to Medicare and Social Security, preventing the privatization of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and promoting more affordable health care through measures such as the Lower Drug Costs Now Act, a now-dead bill. She criticized Cole for voting against a version of the bill in 2019, which passed the House with a 230-192 vote but never received a vote on the Senate floor.
“Elderly Oklahomans must decide lifesaving medicine or groceries,” Brannon wrote on her website. “Insulin is so expensive some just die because they cannot afford it.”
She also supports “reversing tax cuts for the wealthy.”
“The rich are not paying their fair share,” she wrote. “Republicans want to take money from Social Security, our earned benefit, to pay the shortfall.”
According to the Marietta Monitor, Stacy is a software developer. This is the first time he has sought office in Congress. According to his website, one of his top priorities is spurring economic development in the state through tax incentives and leveraging federal programs, with a particular focus on environmentally sustainable industries and renewable energy. He also advocates directing more federal funding to underperforming school districts in the state.
Stacy’s website calls for multiple policies related to cannabis, including targeting industries for placement in Oklahoma that create hempcrete or hemp-based bioplastic, and decriminalizing marijuana at the federal level “to allow states to manage regulation and reduce unnecessary legal burdens on law enforcement.”
He also calls for the creation of “CyberForce,” a law enforcement agency designed to defend national security interests against cyberattacks.
The race’s sole independent candidate, Stacy states “no partisan politics” as part of his platform.
“I am running as an independent, so I do not answer to any party, but to the people of Oklahoma. I will vote based on what is best for Oklahoma,” he states.
Both Brannon and Stacy support the choice to have an abortion. In an interview with the OU Daily, Brannon told the story of a friend who nearly died from a back-alley abortion while they were in high school.
“They had Roe v. Wade for a reason: to keep people alive,” she told The Daily. “You can’t ban abortions. You can only ban safe abortions.”
On his website, Stacy notes, “I do not want the government making medical decisions for anyone that is against what that person wants.”
He advocates for those against abortion to sign a contract agreeing to support children who would have otherwise been aborted financially until they turn 18.
Cole, on the other hand, has worked to limit abortions while in office. He cosponsored the 2015 Health Care Conscience Rights Act, which would have allowed companies to refuse to participate in health care plans that offer abortion, and the Defund Planned Parenthood Act of 2015 — two bills he lists as “protecting the unborn” on his website. The Health Care Conscience Rights Act was never read on the House floor, while the Defund Planned Parenthood Act of 2015 passed the House but never received a vote in the Senate.
Horn hopes to bounce Bice from CD 5
Oklahoma’s 5th Congressional District was briefly a battleground for national Republicans and Democrats in their quests to control Congress after Democrat Kendra Horn beat Republican Steve Russell in 2018. U.S. Rep. Stephanie Bice re-took the seat two years later.
This time, Bice will face another Horn, although Madison Horn is not related to Kendra. Still, Madison Horn is familiar to some voters, having run against James Lankford for the U.S. Senate in 2022.
Madison Horn hopes to reverse a recent trend. CD 5 was redistricted significantly by the GOP supermajority of the Oklahoma Legislature in 2021, switching some parts of Democrat-favorable Oklahoma City into CD 3 while adding portions of Canadian, Logan and Lincoln counties that are much more favorable to Republicans.
The move has made a repeat of 2018’s results far more challenging for Democrats. In 2020, Bice beat incumbent Kendra Horn by about 4 percentage points. But by 2022, Democrat Josua Harris-Till lost to Bice in her reelection bid by more than 20 points.
In her bid for a third term, Bice has made some of the issues that propelled her to victory in past elections front and center again. Her biggest priorities include continuing to protect Second Amendment rights, promoting the oil and gas industry, securing the southern border, and limiting reproductive choice for women in the wake of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision.
Bice, 50, remains an advocate for Oklahoma’s energy industry, often taking the Biden Administration to task for not doing enough to promote domestic energy production.
“Since President Biden took office, America’s energy independence has been at stake, with countless industries facing a full-on regulatory assault,” she wrote in March. “The United States has long strived to reduce reliance on foreign energy sources, yet recent actions have once again shifted the balance dangerously.”
Bice praised the Dobbs decision in 2022 and has continued to support the decision even as it has remained unpopular, even in Oklahoma.
“This decision reverses the radical abortion policies of our country, which mirror countries like North Korea and China,” she said in a statement.
Bice introduced the Securing American Families from Exploitation Act in Congress and has maintained that the nation’s southern border remains an area of weakness that creates problems down the line with undocumented immigrants and drugs, including fentanyl.
“The crisis at the southern border has endangered every single state and community in our nation,” she wrote in a recent newsletter. “Due to the policies of this administration, we are seeing increased national security threats from terrorists entering the country, human and drug trafficking, and countless deaths from fentanyl.”
A citizen of the Cherokee Nation, Madison Horn has been leaning into her background in tech and cyber security. She currently leads a cyber security firm based in OKC called RoseRock Advisory Group. In a recent Cybercrime Radio interview, Horn said having leaders in Congress with strong technology backgrounds is more valuable than ever.
“The necessity for someone with a tech background and a cyber background in the halls of Congress, fingers crossed, or in the U.S. Senate, or just taking a stand and getting involved, is absolutely imperative,” she said.
Among Horn’s focuses are encouraging diversity in Oklahoma’s energy industry and securing the southern border. On energy, Horn wrote on her website that Oklahoma needs to focus on emerging technologies and embrace a “holistic energy plan” that includes natural gas, nuclear power, and oil and gas to boost efficient production and job creation.
On the border, Horn says she would advocate for expanded use of technology to help reign in illegal crossings and reduce the amount of fentanyl coming into the country from Mexico by disrupting cartel operations.
Horn, 34, also said she would support federal legislation that guarantees a woman’s right to reproductive health care while also expanding access to reproductive education. Defending women from violence at home is another one of her priorities. She cited Oklahoma’s problems with the treatment of women in the Cybercrime Radio interview.
“There are devastating facts about the current status of women in Oklahoma. Oklahoma ranks 51st in the overall well-being of women,” Horn said. “Forty-nine percent of women in Oklahoma experience domestic violence or they experience rape. One of the two. It’s the year of 2024, and we are the epitome of modern society, and yet we have awful statistics that are just unimaginable.”
In the same interview, Horn said she chose to return to Oklahoma to live, work and run for office because the state had given her a good start on life.
“I love my state. I chose to come home to save Oklahoma because it gave me my work ethic, my passion, my values, and my call to service,” she said. “Hard stuff. And it deserves leadership.”
