In elections across Oklahoma County on Tuesday, Camal Pennington defeated John Pettis Jr. in a hotly contested runoff to represent OKC City Council Ward 7, and Rep. Jason Lowe (D-OKC) swamped independent Jed Green to win a seat on the Oklahoma County Board of Commissioners for District 1. Meanwhile, Marvin Provo was reelected to the Millwood Public Schools Board of Education.
All election results are unofficial until they are certified by the Oklahoma State Election Board.
Camal Pennington wins OKC Ward 7 seat
Pennington won 64.46 percent of the OKC Ward 7 vote against John Pettis Jr., with 4,341 votes cast across all precincts reporting.
The seat opened up when former Councilwoman Nikki Nice was elected to Senate District 48 last year.
Pennington has worked as an attorney for the Oklahoma City American Federation of Teachers. Now, he is the executive director of It’s My Community Initiative, which leads efforts to strengthen neighborhoods and empower families in financial hardship. He is also the board president for the Harding Fine Arts Academy charter school.
Pennington ran on increasing investment in Ward 7. In a debate hosted by NonDoc, he said that issue is the one he heard most while campaigning.
“When I’m knocking on doors, they’re wondering why we aren’t making the right investments in our kids,” he said. “Why we aren’t making the right investments in our neighborhoods, in our streetlights, in our streets.”
Pettis was attempting a political comeback of sorts. He ran strong in the four-candidate Feb. 11 primary election, garnering 30.24 percent of the vote. He previously represented Ward 7 on the council but resigned in 2018 after being charged with embezzlement and intentionally failing to file state tax returns. He eventually pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor tax evasion charge after the embezzlement count was dropped. As part of a five-year deferred sentence through August 2025, he agreed to pay a $5,000 fine and never run for office again. In May, however, new Oklahoma County District Attorney Vicki Behenna “accelerated the dismissal” of Pettis’ case, according to Pettis’ June motion seeking expungement of the criminal case.
Ward 7 encompasses much of northeast OKC, running north and east from the intersection of Interstate 35 and Interstate 40. Although 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 the largest by area.
Lowe headed to Oklahoma County as commissioner
As expected, Jason Lowe dominated Jed Green on Tuesday night with a whopping 85.24 percent of the vote. A total of 7,690 votes were cast.
The seat opened when former Commissioner Carrie Blumert resigned last year to become executive director of Mental Health Oklahoma.
Lowe, who has represented House District 97 since 2016, ran on a platform of improving conditions in the Oklahoma County Jail. He emerged from a three-person Democratic primary on Feb. 11, defeating former State Sen. Anastasia Pittman and Midwest City Councilwoman and criminal justice activist Sara Bana.
With his election triggering another vacancy in the Oklahoma Legislature, Lowe will enter the county commissioner fray at a critical juncture as officials are exploring ways to bridge a massive $400 million funding gap for the new county jail, which has dominated the board’s agendas for well over a year. Lowe said problems with the current jail served as the chief reason he decided 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 in a forum earlier this year. “It is a mess. It is a place where people are actually going to die.”
Lowe was elected to the House in November. His move from the Legislature to the Oklahoma County Board of Commissioners will trigger a special election for House District 97. JeKia Harrison announced she is running for the seat earlier this year, and Aletia Timmons has also formed an HD 97 campaign committee after resigning as district judge.
District 1 covers a central part of Oklahoma County, including the core of Oklahoma City, and is bound by Jones, The Village, Del City, and a portion of southwest OKC.
Provo reelected to Millwood Public Schools board seat
Marvin Provo defeated Andre Coleman to win Office No. 5 on the Millwood Public Schools School Board with 54.71 percent of the vote.
A total of 488 votes were cast in the school district race. Provo and Coleman emerged from a three-person primary field in the February primary election. Provo, 84, was most recently reelected in 2020, when he ran unopposed. He has served on the school board since the 1990s.
