Criticized over public safety concerns, OKC City Council Ward 3 incumbent Barbara Peck badly lost her bid for reelection this evening to challenger Katrina Bedell Avers, whose supporters besieged Peck on Facebook with allegations of inaccessibility during the campaign’s final days.
Avers received 73.9 percent support (2,197 votes) in Ward 3, which covers the southwestern-most swath of OKC and surrounds the city of Mustang. Peck finished with about 26.1 percent support (776 votes) in a race that grew contentious during a candidate forum last month.
Peck, who went by the surname Young when she was first elected in 2021, becomes the first OKC City Council member to lose their reelection bid since James Greiner ousted incumbent Gary Marrs from Ward 1 in 2013.
Meanwhile, on the city’s east side, Ward 7 voters will cast ballots again April 1 after no candidate received majority support Tuesday.
Camal Pennington led the four-way field with 45.49 percent support (2,311 votes), and John A. Pettis Jr. finished second with 30.24 percent support (1,536 votes). Pennington, an attorney and OKC Planning Commission member, will face Pettis, a pastor and former councilman, in the runoff.
Masood Haqq finished third with 14.84 percent (754 votes), and Andrea Holman received 9.43 percent support (479 votes). A total of 5,080 votes were cast in the Ward 7 election.
Nikki Nice represented Ward 7 from 2018 until 2024 when she won the race for Senate District 48. Following Nice’s departure, former OKC City Councilman Lee Cooper replaced Nice.
Ward 7 encompasses much of northeast OKC, running north and east from the intersection of Interstate 35 and Interstate 40. It includes the Chisholm Creek area south of Quail Springs Mall, Ward 7’s western boundary mostly aligns with Interstate 235. It stretches east around Spencer and to the western edge of Luther. Like all wards, Ward 7 has a targeted population of about 85,000, but owing to OKC’s sprawling eastern boundary, it is one of the largest by area.
The contests in both Ward 3 and Ward 7 saw slightly higher voter turnout than prior cycles. In February 2021, the open Ward 3 election saw 2,599 ballots cast. On Tuesday, that number climbed to 2,973.
In February 2017, when Ward 7 voters reelected Pettis to a second term, 3,065 ballots were cast. On Tuesday, that number climbed to 5,080.
