Rep. Jason Lowe won the special Democratic primary for District 1 on the Oklahoma County Board of Commissioners this evening in a hotly contested race centered mostly around the current state of the Oklahoma County Jail and its future.
With all 108 precincts reporting and more than 10,000 people voting, Lowe received 40.63 percent support (4,244 votes) in the three-way primary. Former Sen. Anastasia Pittman finished with 31.73 percent support (3,315 votes), while Midwest City Councilwoman and criminal justice and human rights activist Sara Bana got 27.64 percent (2,887 votes).
Because special county elections do not have runoffs, Lowe advances to face independent Jed Green in the April 1 general election. Green is a political consultant and lobbyist who also served as director of Oklahomans for Responsible Cannabis Action. No Republican candidate filed for the special election to replace Carrie Blumert, who resigned in September to become executive director of Mental Health Association Oklahoma.
A criminal defense attorney, Lowe first won election to the Oklahoma House in 2016. During his campaign, Lowe said his experience seeing clients inside the troubled jail prompted him to run for county commissioner.
“The reason I am running for Oklahoma County District 1, which I never planned on running for, is the Oklahoma County Jail,” Lowe said during a candidate forum in January. “It is a mess. It is a place where people are actually going to die. I see every single day what is going on. I have seen first hand the bed bugs. I have seen the lack of mental health care. I have experienced the lack of heat. Not seen it on the news, I have experienced it. I am at the Oklahoma County Jail every other week.”
Pittman served 12 years in the Oklahoma Legislature. She previously ran against Blumert for the District 1 seat in 2022, losing by just 120 votes. Pittman diverged from Bana and Lowe on the jail. She supported a new facility but told voters during two candidate forums that the district faces other needs that are just as pressing including infrastructure and economic development.
Bana has been a longtime activist focusing on conditions at the county jail. She opposed the $260 million bond package to build a new county jail and has spoken at numerous jail trust and county commission meetings advocating for more accountability and better conditions at the facility that has seen more than 50 deaths since the trust took over daily operations in July 2020.
All election results are unofficial until they are certified by the Oklahoma State Election Board.
