Edmond Sun
Edmond voters added to former state Sen. Steve Russell’s resounding victory Tuesday to win the Republican nomination for Oklahoma’s 5th Congressional District over Corporation Commissioner Patrice Douglas.
Registered voters in Edmond cast 4,076 ballots for Russell and 2,867 votes for Douglas from the city’s 31 precincts, according to figures released by the Oklahoma State Election Board.
“I think one of the things that intrigued a lot of people is that I could not be put in a single category,” Russell said Friday.
His broad appeal to voters in general included constitutional conservatives and tea partiers as well as mainstream Republicans, veterans, gun owners, seniors and women, Russell said.
All of the grassroots campaign workers were good at persuading people in their individual neighborhoods to support his candidacy, Russell added.
“I think people underestimated that and so to the people of Edmond, I’m very grateful,” he said.
With all 273 of 5th District precincts reporting, Russell received 19,371 votes, or 59.3 percent of the vote to best Douglas, who received 13,315 votes for 40.7 percent of the vote.
Russell will face Democrat state Sen. Al McAffrey, of Oklahoma City, in the Nov. 4 statewide general election. Independent candidates Buddy Ray of Edmond, Tom Boggs of Thailand and Robert Murphey of Norman also will be on Nov. 4 ballot.
With all 273 precincts reporting, McAffrey received 10,411 votes, or 54.3 percent of the vote against Tom Guild, who received 7,959 votes, or 45.8 percent.
Both Douglas and Guild are Edmond residents. However, neither candidate won the Edmond vote. Edmond gave McAffrey 730 votes to Guild’s 688 vote count, according to state Election Board.
These figures do not include provisional ballots and will not be official until provisional ballots are certified, said Oklahoma County Election Board Secretary Doug Sanderson.
Voter turnout in Oklahoma County does not include all of the 5th District, Sanderson said. The total 5th District vote count for Democrats and Republicans was 46,890. Nineteen percent of Oklahoma County Republicans voters cast their ballots. Eleven percent of Democrats voted.
“I think it’s consistent with previous runoffs in Oklahoma County,” Sanderson said.
There are 55,968 registered voters living in the City of Edmond, according to Bryan Dean of the state Election Board. This number includes 33,930 Republicans, 14,154 Democrats and 7,884 Independents.
In the Democratic race for Superintendent of Public Instruction, John Cox of Hulbert defeated Freda Deskin of Edmond in the 5th District with 67,337 votes, or 62.9 percent against Deskin, who received 31,795 votes, or 37.1 percent of the electorate. Cox will face Tulsa Republican Joy Hofmeister in the Nov. 4 statewide elections.
However, Deskin managed to win the vote in Edmond with 740 votes to Cox’s 676 votes in the city, according to the state Election Board.
In the Democratic runoff for U.S. Senate, state Sen. Connie Johnson of Oklahoma City bested Jim Rogers of Midwest City. With all 1,956 precincts reporting, Johnson defeated Rogers with 54,728 votes, or 58 percent of ballots cast. Rogers received 39,649 votes, or 42 percent, according to the Oklahoma State Election Board.
Johnson will face Republican Congressman James Lankford as well as Independent candidate Mark Beard of Oklahoma City in the Nov. 4 statewide elections.
Edmond Democrats contributed to Johnson’s victory over Rogers with 1,117 votes for Johnson against 278 votes for Rogers.
Business woman Stephanie Bice of the Edmond area was elected state senator for District 22 Tuesday night. With all 27 precincts reporting, Bice defeated challenger Mark Thomas of Yukon. Registered voters gave Bice 2,693 votes, or 53.1 percent, against Thomas’s 2,381 votes, or 46.9 percent, according to the Oklahoma State Election Board.
Bice commanded a 699 lead in District 22’s six Edmond precincts against the 446 votes received by Thomas in Edmond.
