Oklahoma voters make primary choices; McEntire retains seat

With official votes yet to be certified, the unofficial results show Stephens County went mostly the same way as the rest of the state voters in the federal and state primary elections held Tuesday. Locally, Marcus McEntire kept his seat as District 50 State Representative. In perhaps the tightest race in the state, the District 5 judge election, which includes Stephens, Comanche, Cotton and Jefferson counties, went down to the wire before Jay Walker edged out Neil West by 15 votes. The two will have a runoff in November's general election.

McEntire won his seat outright without the need for a runoff, staving off two hard-working challengers in Jennifer Sengstock and Deborah Campbell. McEntire tallied 2,338 votes (61 percent), Sengstock received 853 votes (22 percent) and Campbell received 641 votes (17 percent).

McEntire won all five precincts (Comanche, Meridian, Loco, Corum and Empire) that he was on the ballot in.

"I'm very happy and feel like I'm vindicated," McEntire said in a telephone interview. "The voters said they like the way I do my job and I'm honored to represent them. I really appreciate the voters of House District 50 giving me the opportunity to keep going."

McEntire had been the target of some political action committee ad mailers questioning his voting record and campaign contributors, but he said he was not surprised that he was able to garner more than 60 percent of the vote and avoid a run-off.

"Our polling surveys and data analysis showed that is about how we were going to finish," McEntire said. "I felt comfortable that we put in the hard work that we needed."

With no Democrat challenger in the November general election, McEntire can now focus on getting to the state's business.

"We've got so many things we need to work on," McEntire said. "We need to address inflation relief and help Oklahomans with high grocery and gas prices."

West easily won the five local precincts. West, with Comanche family connections and a large advertising campaign in the area, won the Comanche, Meridian, Loco and Corum precincts fairly easily and finished third in Empire, but was within 10 votes of first place. Empire was won by Steven W. Crow with Walker taking second.

Overall unofficial voting totals were: Jay Walker, 5,268 (32.7 percent); Neil West, 5,254 (32.61 percent); Steven W. Crow, 3,399 (21 percent); and Tommy Sims, 1,987 (14 percent).

On his Facebook page, West posted a thank you to the voters in the four counties.

"My heart is full tonight...I’m humbled that you listened to my message of hope and positivity, and gave me your votes of confidence." West said. "I look forward to advancing to the November general election."

Gov. Kevin Stitt won the Republican primary with 69 percent of the vote. He will take on former state superintendent Joy Hofmeister in the general election.

U.S. Rep. Tom Cole easily advanced to the general election garnering nearly 70 percent of the vote in District 4. He will face Democrat Mary Bannon in the general election. Cole defeated Bannon in the 2020 election.

Also winning easily was James Lankford, who defeated Jackson Lahmeyer and Joan Farr with 68 percent of the votes. He will face the winner of a Democrat runoff between Jason Bollinger and Madison Horn in the general election.

The long list of Republicans vying to finish out Sen. Jim Inhofe's term beginning next year was narrowed down to current U.S. Rep. Markwayne Mullin and former Oklahoma State Rep. T.W. Shannon. Mullin won with 44 percent of the vote with Shannon second at 18 percent. The two will go head-to-head in the August runoff.

The winner will face Democrat Kendra Horn in the general election.

Other runoffs in Republican state offices affecting Stephens County include the Superintendent of Public Instruction with Ryan Walters and April Grace facing off, Lelie Kathryn Osborn and Sean Roberts for Commissioner of Labor and Kim David and Todd Thomsen for corporation commissioner.

Other than the Jason Bollinger and Madison Horn runoff, there is no other runoff for Democrats before November's general election.

The Libertarian Party of Oklahoma has seven candidates in the November general election including Kenneth Blevins, U.S. Senator (Lankford seat); Robert Murphy, U.S. Senator (Inhofe seat); Natalie Bruno, Governor; Chris Powell, Lieutenant Governor, Lyna Steele, Attorney General; Greg Sadler, Treasurer; and Will Daugherty, Labor Commissioner.