Harris, Raff to face Libertarian candidate in election for Edmond's seat in Oklahoma House

William C. Wertz, The Oklahoman
·2 min read
Voters went to the polls in Edmond for a special primary election to replace former Rep. Ryan Martinez, who resigned in September.
Voters went to the polls in Edmond for a special primary election to replace former Rep. Ryan Martinez, who resigned in September.

Republican Erick Harris, 36, a former assistant state attorney general, and Democrat Regan Raff, 43, owner of an Edmond bookkeeping company, won their respective special primary elections Tuesday and will face off against Libertarian Richard Prawdzienski, 75, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, in February for a seat in the Oklahoma House of Representatives.

The winner in the special general election on Feb. 12 will replace Rep. Ryan Martinez, R-Edmond, who resigned in September after pleading guilty to the felony offense of being in control of a motor vehicle while intoxicated. Martinez first won the District 39 seat in 2016 with 68% of the vote. He ran unopposed in 2020 and 2022.

With all precincts reporting, Harris narrowly edged Ronda Lee Peterson, 61, an Edmond Public Schools bus driver, with 896 votes or 27.16% of the vote, to Peterson's 869 votes, 26.34%, according to unofficial figures from the State Election Board.

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The primary election was "winner take all," which meant no runoff was necessary, even though neither Harris nor Peterson won more than 50% of the vote.

In the Democratic primary, Raff easily defeated Paul Timmons, 62, investigations chief of the Oklahoma County Detention Center and retired Oklahoma Highway Patrol captain with 82% of the vote, compared with Timmons' 18%.

Prawdzienski, the Libertarian candidate, was unopposed.

Seven candidates had crowded into the Republican primary. Trailing Harrison and Peterson were:

  • Cris Price, 53, an Edmond mortgage broker, with 15.34% of the vote.

  • Tim Hale, 64, a retired Air Force colonel and area ministry coordinator for the Officers' Christian Fellowship, with 13.91%.

  • Dr. Ross Vanhooser, 63, a semi-retired radiologist appointed by Gov. Kevin Stitt to the Oklahoma Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision, with 13%.

  • Kristen Ferate, 45, a member of the Oklahoma Department of Libraries Board, 3.70%

  • And William A. Gaige Jr., 47, operations manager for an OKC building products firm, 0.55%

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Edmond election: Harris, Raff to face Libertarian candidate in Feb. election