Former Oklahoma County District Court Judge Aletia Timmons won the special election for House District 97 on Tuesday night, defeating JeKia Harrison to fill the remainder of former Rep. Jason Lowe’s term.
Timmons picked up 59.07 percent of the vote. Harrison, currently a legislative assistant in the House, finished with 40.93 after all 17 precincts had reported. Both Timmons and Harrison are Democrats, and no other candidate filed for the special election in HD 97.
All election results are unofficial until certified by the Oklahoma State Election Board.
Lowe won reelection to HD 97 in November, but he soon announced a bid to run for the Oklahoma County Board of Commissioners District 1 seat vacated by Carrie Blumert. Lowe won that election in April and stepped down from his HD 97 seat, setting the stage for Tuesday’s special election.
Timmons, 64, served on the bench from 2014 until she resigned in March to launch her bid for the House seat. Before becoming a judge, Timmons led the OKC-based law firm of Timmons and Associates from 2003 to 2014, where she focused on civil rights and employment law. She began her career as an attorney for General Motors’ legal services. Timmons is a graduate of John Marshall High School and earned her law degree from the University of Oklahoma College of Law.
Timmons said her win was the result of hard work from those who helped her campaign.
“I’m excited by the hard work that was put in,” Timmons said. “We had from the third week in March through June 10 to run through the tape. My volunteers showed up all the time. My heart is full right now, so I’m going to enjoy the moment.”
Timmons said her work for the residents of her district is just beginning.
“I will continue to fight the good fight for all residents of House District 97 and the state of Oklahoma, and I will do my job with integrity,” she said. “I think this is the best House district in the state, and I am honored to represent its constituents.”
In a debate hosted by NonDoc a week before the election, Timmons said she decided to retire from the bench because she wanted a say in how state policy is made.
“I retired because I am a person who goes out in the community and does work,” she said during the debate. “And being on the bench, you cannot speak on matters that are political, because one of those cases may come in front of you. You can’t. You’re nonpartisan. So when I saw the divisive bend of this country, going in a direction that I thought was inhumane and was detrimental to the state and this country, being silenced as you have to be when you’re on the bench was difficult for me because I’m not a quiet person when I see injustice. I’m not a quiet person when I see that I can put my arms in a mess and straighten it out and help people.”
Running as far north as the John Kilpatrick Turnpike and as far south as Northeast 10th Street, House District 97 includes a large swath of northeast Oklahoma City, as well as the communities of Spencer, Forest Park and Lake Aluma.
Also on Tuesday, voters in Tulsa selected Democrat Amanda Clinton to fill the open HD 71 seat, and voters in the Owasso area chose Republican Norwood to fill the vacant HD 74 seat. None of the three Oklahoma House seats changed party affiliations on Election Night.
