In Oklahoma state politics, the most consequential elections are often Republican primaries.
Even when an office goes to a general election in November, the ultimate outcome is, more times than not, determined by GOP voters in June’s closed primaries or August’s runoffs.
That is the case with several Tulsa-area legislative seats — including two open Senate spots — and the only statewide office on this year’s ballot: corporation commissioner.
The 1st Congressional District will go to the general election after Republican and Democratic primaries, but incumbent Kevin Hern seems unlikely to have much trouble holding the GOP nomination against little-known Paul Royse, who twice ran unsuccessfully for the Oklahoma House of Representatives.
Four Senate and two House seats representing the Tulsa area have June 18 Republican primaries likely to affect or largely decide November general elections. In fact, the general election for only one of those six, House District 79 in southeast Tulsa, is considered competitive at this stage of the campaign.
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No area Democratic primaries for state office will lead to general elections.
Here’s a quick rundown of these eight primaries.
Oklahoma’s 1st Congressional District
The only area state or federal office with both a Republican and Democratic primary is the 1st Congressional District.
On the Republican side, Hern is seeking his fourth term. His campaign reported nearly $1 million in cash on hand at the end of March, and Republican constituents — the only ones who matter in a Republican primary — do not appear displeased with him.
Royse, who ran shoestring campaigns against state Rep. Meloyde Blancett in 2018 and 2020, is telling voters that Hern is a big spender who wants to cut Social Security.
The Democratic primary is between former FBI agent Dennis Baker, an unsuccessful U.S. Senate candidate two years ago, and frequent candidate Evelyn L. Rogers.
Independent Mark David Garcia Sanders will be on the November ballot with the two primary winners.
Corporation commissioner
Former state Senate President Pro Tem and Oklahoma Secretary of State Brian Bingman of Sapulpa is the likely favorite in a three-way GOP primary.
The Democrat in the race is 85-year-old Harold Spradling of Oklahoma City, so the Republican primary winner will also likely win the general election.
All three GOP candidates have Tulsa-area connections. Besides Bingman, Pipeliners Union official Justin Hornback lives in Broken Arrow, and CareerTech publicist Russell Ray of Edmond grew up and lived for many years in the Tulsa area.
All three also have connections to the oil and gas industry, one of the Corporation Commission’s primary responsibilities.
Bingman holds a petroleum land management degree from the University of Oklahoma, and his business career has been in that field. He served one term in the Oklahoma House of Representatives before moving to the Senate in 2006. He was president pro tem from 2010-2016.
Following an unsuccessful 2017 campaign for Corporation Commission, Bingman became Gov. Kevin Stitt’s secretary of state in 2020.
Two years ago, with very little money or advertising, Hornback managed 20% in a four-way GOP Corporation Commission primary.
Hornback has been a pipeline welder, welding inspector, and safety and health specialist. On his website, Hornback says he wants to open up the often-opaque workings of the commission.
Before his current job with CareerTech, Ray covered energy and utilities for several publications, including the Tulsa World. He says that gives him an understanding of those sectors and the Corporation Commission without potential conflicts of interest.
Senate District 3
The district that elected Republican Blake Stephens in 2020 was a lot different than the one in which he’s running for reelection this year — which may explain why he has two primary opponents.
In 2020, SD 3 hugged the Arkansas line and lay mostly east of the Grand River. In the 2021 redistricting, SD 3 shifted westward into most of the area formerly represented by SD 18, which moved all the way to the western Oklahoma City suburbs.
SD 3’s new territory includes all but the northwest corner of Wagoner County, which brings it to the outskirts of Tulsa and Broken Arrow.
Stephens, a Cherokee County teacher and rancher, is being challenged by two Wagoner County residents who came into the district with the redrawn lines.
Dr. Julie McIntosh is a physician and public health official who describes herself as a home-school mom and parental rights activist. Her husband is also a doctor.
Patrick Sampson is a Wagoner city councilor and insurance executive, and a U.S. Air Force veteran. He and wife Katie have three children in Wagoner Public Schools.
The winner of the Republican primary will be opposed by independent Margaret Cook in the general election.
Senate District 25 One of two area open Senate seats representing strongly Republican districts, the GOP primary matchup is state Rep. Jeff Boatman of Tulsa vs. Bixby Mayor Brian Guthrie.
Boatman’s business background is in telecommunications and information technology, but he also has a master’s degree in Christian counseling. Those interests have largely informed his activities during three House terms, during which he’s carried legislation on mental health, disabilities and high tech.
Guthrie is a real estate professional with a background in home construction. He has been a Bixby city councilor since 2011 and became mayor in April 2019, just ahead of that year’s Arkansas River flood.
The winner between Boatman and Guthrie meet former Democratic state Rep. Karen Gaddis in the general election.
SD 25 reaches from southeast Tulsa through Bixby and along the southern tier of Tulsa County.
Senate District 33
The other area open Senate seat from a Republican district is more complicated. Four contestants signed up for the southwest Broken Arrow/East Tulsa district’s GOP primary.
Christi Gillespie is Broken Arrow vice mayor and a City Council member since 2019, when she defeated 12-year incumbent Mike Lester. She has 30 years of sales experience, including with SeneGence International, a skin care and cosmetics company with ties to the Tulsa area.
Tim Brooks is an insurance executive who says his primary interest is families, which are “under attack more so than any time in our nation’s history.” He is a 2014 Rhema Bible Training Center graduate and a Leadership Broken Arrow alum. Brooks was an unsuccessful state House candidate in 2022.
Shelley Gwartney is probably best known as an education activist involved in Moms for Liberty and Oklahomans for Health and Parental Rights, an organization opposed to mandatory vaccinations. She owns a small business and is a live and voice actor.
Bill Bickerstaff is a Broken Arrow businessman and advocate of eliminating the state income tax. He says he’s committed to “education that prepares our youth for the future, free from biased agendas, and focused on student success ... underpinned by conservative principles and a respect for traditional values.”
Bickerstaff was an unsuccessful Tulsa school board candidate in 2014 and was involved in two political action committees that tried to influence a 2023 Bixby school board election.
Senate District 37 Tulsa incumbent Cody Rogers, who first said he wouldn’t run for reelection but changed his mind, is challenged by Aaron Reinhardt of Jenks.
Rogers is a paving contractor, Reinhardt a commercial insurance agent.
SD 37 is mostly Tulsa and Jenks between the Osage County line and 131st Street, west of the Arkansas River and downtown Tulsa to Sand Springs, with a notch east of the river between 71st and 103rd streets.
Independent Andrew Nutter will be on the ballot in November.
House District 79
Republicans have been trying to oust Democratic incumbent Melissa Provenzano since she surprised them by winning this southeast Tulsa district in 2018.
This year’s challengers are Paul Hassink, an electrical engineer and former utility executive who lost to Provenzano by 3.6 percentage points 2022, and Jenifer Stevens, a patient advocate and Republican activist. Her husband, Stan Stevens, was an unsuccessful 2022 candidate for this seat.
HD 79 lies mostly between the Mingo Valley Expressway and Yale Avenue, and 31st and 71st streets.
House District 98
Gabe Woolley, an educator and conservative podcaster who identifies himself as “former LGBTQ,” and J. David Taylor, a construction contractor, are challenging incumbent Dean Davis in this northeast Broken Arrow and far east Tulsa district.
Woolley is the uncle of a child at the center of high-profile Wagoner custody case.
Taylor specializes in rehabilitating old houses and is self-employed. He said he believes Davis has become ineffective as a representative of HD 98.
The GOP primary winner faces Democrat Cathy Smythe in the general election.
Davis has kept a fairly low profile in the House but was disciplined by House leadership last year after a confrontation with police outside an Oklahoma City bar.