Brecheen tops Frix for GOP nomination for Oklahoma's 2nd Congressional District

Former state Sen. Josh Brecheen narrowly defeated state Rep. Avery Frix on Tuesday in the hotly contested Republican runoff to replace U.S. Rep. Markwayne Mullin in the congressional district that covers most of eastern Oklahoma.

With 545 of 546 precincts reporting, Brecheen had 52% of the vote and Frix had 48% in the 2nd Congressional District race.

Brecheen will face Democrat Naomi Andrews and independent Ben Robinson in the Nov. 8 general election.

Brecheen hammered Frix throughout the runoff campaign for voting in 2018 for a $447 million tax bill that increased taxes on gasoline, cigarettes and oil and gas production. Brecheen, who was in the state Senate then, was among the 10 senators who voted against the bill. Frix countered that he had voted multiple times for cuts to the state income tax.

The vote was a major difference between the two candidates, both of whom professed strong loyalty to former President Donald Trump, though neither was endorsed by him.

Brecheen reverses order of finish as Frix was top vote-getter in primary among 14 candidates

Frix, 28, of Muskogee, got nearly 15% of the vote in the June 28 primary, tops in the field of 14 candidates hoping to replace Mullin. Brecheen, 43, of Coalgate, got nearly 14% of the vote.

Brecheen, a rancher who worked for former U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, burnished his conservative credentials when he got the endorsement of the House Freedom Fund, which is a campaign fund associated with Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, and Marjorie Taylor Green of Georgia

Frix and Brecheen are both members of the Choctaw Nation but took different stances on the U.S. Supreme Court decision in McGirt v. Oklahoma, which has led to six tribal reservations being affirmed since 2020.

Brecheen has criticized the ruling, claiming it has created law enforcement problems in eastern Oklahoma, and has called for Congress to take action. Frix has said that the issue affects only Oklahomans and shouldn’t be addressed by Congress until all members of the delegation agree on legislation.

A political action committee started by the Choctaw Nation donated to Frix.

The race drew millions of dollars in outside spending, much of it coming from the School Freedom Fund, which backed Brecheen; the group supports school choice and is connected to the Washington, D.C.-based Club for Growth, a conservative anti-tax organization that backed Coburn’s campaigns.

Frix got major help from a group called Fund for a Working Congress, which has reported receipts from dark money groups, including the Sooner State Leadership Fund, which has spent millions of dollars attacking Gov. Kevin Stitt.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Josh Brecheen wins GOP nomination in 2nd Congressional District runoff