Lawton election: Pastor and former OU football player vie for a state senate seat in December

M. Scott Carter, The Oklahoman
·1 min read
Voters in the Lawton area went to the polls Tuesday in a special primary election to choose candidates for a seat in the state Senate.
Voters in the Lawton area went to the polls Tuesday in a special primary election to choose candidates for a seat in the state Senate.

LAWTON -- Dusty Deevers, the pastor of Grace Community Church in Elgin, outpaced three other Republican candidates to capture the GOP nomination for Senate District 32, unofficial election results show.

Deevers earned 1,416 votes or 37.08 percent. Lawton physician Jean Hausheer came in second with 1,177 votes, or 30.82 percent. Elgin Mayor JJ Francais earned 725 votes, about 19 percent and Jennifer Ellis, the CEO of Cosmetic Specialty Labs, Inc., was a distant fourth with 501 votes, or 13.12 percent.

Francais was endorsed by Gov. Kevin Stitt.

In the Democratic primary, former University of Oklahoma defensive back Larry Bush solidly defeated his opponent, Johnny Jernigan, a musician and nurse’s aide. Bush captured 922 votes, more than 73 % of the total vote. Jernigan received 335 votes, or 26.65 %.

Bush will face Deevers in a special general election on Dec. 12. Because the election was a special election, there is no primary runoff.

The candidates are seeking to replace Republican Senator John Michael Montgomery, who resigned the seat to become the CEO of the Lawton-Ft. Sill Chamber of Commerce. Montgomery was re-elected in 2022 and left office in the first year of his term.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma election results 2023: Lawton Senate seat primary