Republicans will hold onto both of Oklahoma’s U.S. Senate seats and all five congressional districts after an election in which all seven offices were up for grabs.
Congressman Markwayne Mullin will take the seat Sen. Jim Inhofe has held since 1994, and incumbents won in all the other federal-level races.
Results became clear relatively early in the evening, with large margins favoring Republican candidates.
All results posted by the Oklahoma State Election Board online are unofficial until they are certified by the board. The following results were recorded with about 88 percent of precincts reporting statewide.
U.S. Senate: Mullin to join Lankford in upper chamber
Lankford won his second full term in the U.S. Senate with about 65 percent of the vote. Democratic challenger Madison Horn received 30.7 percent, while Libertarian candidate Kenneth D. Blevins and independent candidate Michael Delaney trailed behind with less than 2 percent each.
Lankford first won the seat in a 2014 special election following the retirement of the late Sen. Tom Coburn. In both that election and in 2016, Lankford won more than 67 percent of the vote.
His current Senate committee assignments include Energy and Natural Resources, Finance, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and Indian Affairs. He is also the vice chairman of the Select Committee on Ethics.
Like many Republicans this election cycle, Lankford ran a campaign highly critical of President Joe Biden, whom he has critiqued on issues including immigration, energy policy and student loan forgiveness.
His Democratic challenger, Madison Horn, was running for office for the first time. She is a cybersecurity expert who campaigned as a moderate who would focus on rural issues.
Lankford will be joined in the Senate by Congressman Markwayne Mullin, who defeated former Democratic Rep. Kendra Horn in the race to replace Sen. Jim Inhofe, who is retiring in January after almost 30 years in office. Mullin pulled about 63 percent of the vote to Horn’s 33 percent. Libertarian candidate Robert Murphy and independent Ray Woods finished with less than 2 percent each.
Mullin has represented Oklahoma’s 2nd Congressional District, which covers much of the eastern part of the state, since 2012. In his first congressional campaign, he promised he would not serve more than three terms — or until 2018. With his Senate victory, he will be in office until at least 2026, when the seat has its next election.
In his campaign, Mullin emphasized support of former President Donald Trump, who endorsed him in the race. He has been an outspoken opponent of restrictions related to COVID-19 and has said he supports the idea of a federal ban on abortion.
Horn represented the 5th Congressional District, in the center of the state, from 2018-2020. She won that seat in a surprise upset, defeating incumbent Republican Steve Russell, but lost it two years later to Rep. Stephanie Bice.
Horn campaigned for the Senate as a moderate who was often critical of Democratic leadership and who said she would be willing to work across the aisle.
U.S. House of Representatives results
In Congressional District 1, which includes the Tulsa area, Rep. Kevin Hern, 60, walked away with close to 60 percent of the vote, defeating Democrat Adam Martin and independent Evelyn Rogers.
Hern has represented the district since 2018. Before entering politics, Hern, who is worth at least $39 million, according to financial disclosures, owned a number of McDonald’s franchises in Oklahoma and Arkansas and worked in national leadership for the company.
In this race, he was facing Democratic challenger Adam Martin, a 26-year-old political newcomer who previously worked as a legal assistant.
One of the more tumultuous races of this election cycle was the fight to replace Markwayne Mullin in Congressional District 2, which covers much of the eastern part of the state.
Former State Sen. Josh Brecheen won the district tonight, with more than 70 percent of the vote, defeating Democrat Naomi Andrews and independent candidate “Bulldog” Ben Robinson.
It was the end of a long battle for Brecheen. He was one of 16 candidates who filed to run for the office. He finished second in that primary, with only 13.8 percent of the vote, but went on to beat the first place finisher, Avery Frix, in the August runoff with 52.2 percent of the vote.
Brecheen served in the Oklahoma State Senate from 2010 to 2018. He previously worked for former U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, owned a quarter-horse breeding operation and ran a motivational-speaking company.
Brecheen, a Choctaw Nation citizen, has been critical of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2020 decision in McGirt v. Oklahoma, which has led to the affirmation of six Indian Country reservations in Oklahoma, which lie within CD 2.
Republican incumbent Rep. Frank Lucas retained his seat in Congressional District 3, winning more than 75 percent of the vote. He defeated Democratic challenger Jeremiah Ross.
Lucas has been in Congress since 1994, and this will be his 13th term. During his time in Congress, he has worked on various agricultural issues and he serves on the Republican Whip Team.
He previously served in the Oklahoma House of Representatives for several years. He ran for the first time in 1984, two years after graduating from OSU with a degree in agricultural economics, and he was first elected in 1988.
Lucas hails from Cheyenne, Oklahoma, and he still lives and operates a ranch in the area.
CD 3 covers the northwestern part of the state, including the Panhandle. Controversially, the latest redistricting redrew CD 3’s boundaries to include more than 180,000 residents of Oklahoma City who had previously been in CD 5.
In Congressional District 4, incumbent Republican Tom Cole also kept his seat, defeating Democratic challenger Mary Brannon with about 67 percent of the vote. This will be his 11th term in the House.
Before his time in Congress, Cole was the chairman of the Oklahoma Republican Party, served three years as a state senator, and was secretary of state under Gov. Frank Keating. He also worked in Republican Party leadership at the national level. He is a co-founder of the political consulting firm Cole, Hargrave, Snodgrass and Associates.
Cole is a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation and the son of Oklahoma politician Helen Cole. He serves on the House Rules Committee and the Appropriations Committee.
Stephanie Bice won her second term in Congress representing Congressional District 5, defeating Democratic challenger, Joshua Harris-Till and independent candidate David K. Frosch.
Bice first won the seat in 2020, ousting incumbent Kendra Horn, who had scored a surprise upset for Democrats in 2018.
Bice had previously served in the Oklahoma State Senate for six years, during which time she served as the assistant majority floor leader and was involved in efforts to update the state’s liquor laws. Before her time in the Senate, she worked in technology and marketing.
Her campaign for reelection emphasized critiques of the Biden administration’s handling of the economy and energy policy.
