Kevin Calvey, Gayland Gieger head to Aug. 23 runoff in GOP race for Oklahoma County DA
Kevin Calvey had hoped to win the Republican primary election for Oklahoma County district attorney outright Tuesday.
He almost did, coming just 16 votes short.
Now, the Oklahoma County commissioner will be in a runoff Aug. 23 with Gayland Gieger, a longtime Oklahoma County assistant district attorney.
More: Who won Tuesday's primary elections?
The runoff winner will take on Democrat Vicki Behenna in the Nov. 8 general election.
Behenna is a former U.S. attorney who helped prosecute Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh at his trial in Denver in 1997.
She easily defeated Mark Myles in the Democratic primary Tuesday, winning 64% of the vote.
In other DA races, incumbents Allan Grubb and Kenny Wright lost.
In Oklahoma County, Calvey, a former state legislator, needed just one vote over 50% Tuesday to avoid a runoff. He got 49.97%.
With all precincts reporting, Calvey had 26,975 votes, Gieger had 12,548, defense attorney Jacqui Ford had 7,802 and defense attorney Robert W. Gray had 6,655.
Those totals are unofficial and could change after the Oklahoma County Election Board meets Friday. The board will decide one by one Friday to reject or accept a number of provisional ballots.
Calvey and Gieger pointed to their experience as prosecutors in their pitches to primary voters.
Calvey, 55, prosecuted terrorists in Iraq between Jan. 28, 2007, and Jan. 27, 2008, as a captain in the U.S. Army, according to a narrative accompanying his Bronze Star medal.
Gieger, 55, has prosecuted murderers, sex offenders, baby killers and other criminals over 22 years in Oklahoma County District Court.
The outcome Tuesday sets the stage for a bitter runoff race. They have clashed already, yelling at each other in a debate June 15.
"We need to support our police, not persecute them," Calvey said at the debate.
Calvey has pledged to dismiss a first-degree manslaughter charge against the five Oklahoma City police officers who fatally shot a 15-year-old robbery suspect in 2020.
Calvey also has been critical of the decision to prosecute the owner of a medical marijuana grow business in a 2020 fatal shooting. He said the veteran acted in self-defense.
“He doesn't know the evidence. He knows what News 9 showed,” Gieger said at the debate. “He's standing up, saying I'm going to dismiss cases based on what I see on News 9. Well, God help us all if the district attorney makes decisions based upon what ..."
Calvey interjected: “God help us all if you wrongfully prosecute police officers and a young combat veteran.”
The last precinct count did not come in until late Tuesday.
Calvey early Wednesday said he was very encouraged by the tremendous support shown to him by Republican primary voters. "I look forward to a very decisive victory in the runoff," he said.
Gieger late Tuesday said he can pick up enough support to prevail in August, even though he got only 23% of the primary vote. He said Calvey has been a politician since 1996 and still couldn't get enough votes to avoid the runoff.
"He's been in a runoff before, and he wasn't successful," Gieger added.
The winner in November takes office in January. The incumbent, David Prater, is retiring after 16 years as the top prosecutor in the state's most populous county.
Prater did not endorse nor contribute to any of the DA candidates before the primary.
Behenna, 63, said again Tuesday night that a Democrat can win the DA race. She noted Prater was a Democrat when he won.
"I don't really believe that this is a Republican or Democrat issue. This is an experience issue," she said. "I do think that experience matters, and I have that in spades."
With all precincts counted Tuesday, Behenna had 28,478 votes and Myles had 15,708.
For Myles, it was his third electoral defeat. He ran for U.S. Senate in 2010, losing badly in the Democratic primary to perennial candidate Jim Rogers. He ran as a Democrat for attorney general in 2018 and lost in the general election.
"I would have liked to have done better. I just kind of ran out of runway," Myles, 66, said Tuesday night.
He did not rule out running for office again and said he now will endorse Behenna. "We need somebody who is not as far to the right as Kevin Calvey," Myles said.
Allan Grubb, DA of Pottawatomie and Lincoln counties, loses reelection bid
Republican voters in Pottawatomie and Lincoln counties refused Tuesday to give Grubb a second term.
"Am I going to lie to you and say there's not problems? No. There's been problems," Grubb said at a forum in May. "We've taken care of the problems."
Grubb came in third in the Republican primary, getting only 20% of the vote. He blamed media coverage of his financial issues for his loss.
"I'm sure it had nothing to do with the 'hit piece' you wrote," he told The Oklahoman. "Every negative attack ad they wrote came directly out of your deal."
Winning with 58% of the vote was former prosecutor David Hammer. Coming in second was another former prosecutor, Tanya Roland. Hammer will take office in January because no one else filed.
Hammer said Wednesday he is doing all the research he can now so he can start attacking the financial issues on his first day in office. "Whatever I've got to deal with, we'll deal with it," he said. "I'll have lots of good people surrounding me. We're going to hit it hard and get it taken care of."
Also losing Tuesday in the Republican primary was Kenny Wright, the district attorney of Delaware and Ottawa counties in the northeast corner of the state. Winner Doug Pewitt will take office in January.
Wright lost after a former assistant was charged in April with bribery. The former assistant "would receive sexual favors in exchange for special treatment of certain defendants and their cases," an FBI special agent alleged in a court affidavit.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Calvey, Gieger head to Aug. 23 runoff in Oklahoma County DA race
