Money spent on special elections in two legislative races expected to top $1 million

Republican JJ Francais reported spending more than $118,000 in his bid to become a state senator in southwestern Oklahoma, and he had Gov. Kevin Stitt's endorsement.

"You've trusted me as governor. Now I'm asking you to trust me again," Stitt said in a 30-second spot.

Still, Francais came in third of four candidates Oct. 10 in the GOP winner-take-all special primary election. He got only 725 votes.

In the race for a House seat in Edmond, a former assistant attorney general won the Dec. 12 Republican special primary election. Erick Harris got 897 votes to beat six other candidates.

Through Nov. 27, he had spent $60,375, his latest campaign report shows.

The two legislative contests are the latest examples of how expensive politics has become. They also are proof money doesn't always matter.

By the time the final bills are paid next year, the candidates and their outside backers and opponents will have spent more than $1 million.

The total already is close to $900,000, according to a review of filings at the Oklahoma Ethics Commission and records on TV campaign buys.

The winner in the Senate District 32 race was Dusty Deevers, a pastor and abortion abolitionist from Elgin. The Republican beat Democrat Larry Bush in the special general election Dec. 12. He was sworn in Wednesday.

The Senate seat in Comanche County became open when John Michael Montgomery resigned. The Republican left to lead the Lawton Fort Sill Chamber of Commerce.

The special general election for House District 39 is Feb. 13. On the ballot with Harris will be Democrat Regan Raff and Libertarian Richard Prawdzienski.

The House seat had been held by Ryan Martinez. The Republican resigned after pleading guilty in August to a felony, actual physical control of a motor vehicle while intoxicated.

11 takeaways from the legislative races in Oklahoma

The Oklahoman's review of records on the two races shows:

• Deevers spent $57,064 through Nov. 27 on his Senate race. Two primary foes, Francais and Jean Hausheer, both spent more than twice that.

• Americans United for Values, Common Sense Conservatives and other political organizations put more than $227,000 into the Senate contest. More than half of the so-called independent expenditures attacked Deevers. "Look what God has done," he said after his victory. "In the face of a barrage of slanders and a war chest full of cash, we were conquerors."

• Bush, a former University of Oklahoma football player, raised close to $100,000 in his failed Senate bid. Through Nov. 27, he had spent $48,984.

• Six of the seven Republican candidates in the House race filed campaign reports. Through Nov. 27, they had spent close to $200,000.

• The second-place finisher in the Republican winner-take-all primary for the House seat was Ronda Peterson, a school bus driver. She got 869 votes to barely lose. As of Nov. 27, she had spent $19,387, a third of what the winner spent. "We were a real grassroots campaign that gave the political machine a run for their money," she wrote in a Facebook post.

• The Republicans in the House race relied largely on mailers. Harris alone sent out more than dozen, both regular and extra-sized. Ross Vanhooser was the only one to turn to television ads, too. It didn't do much good. He spent thousands of dollars on TV and came in fifth with 429 votes.

• A political action committee that attacked Peterson did not report its expenses to the Ethics Commission. The 1907 PAC called her extremist and out of touch.

• A group that attacked Harris for being a Democrat in college did not report its expenses either. Edmond Citizens for TRUTH in Politics also did not put its address and phone number on a mailer in violation of an ethics rule. Harris called the mailer and the group's Facebook ads a bunch of nonsense and mistruths. "If you're going to make a charge or make a claim, if you really believe it, why don't you say who you are and be an adult?" he told The Oklahoman.

• In the Democratic primary for the House seat, Raff got 959 votes after spending $13,515 through Nov. 27. His only opponent, Paul Timmons, got 205 votes after spending nothing.

• The Libertarian in the House race, Prawdzienski, has not filed any reports with the Ethics Commission. He has run for public office before, including for governor.

• Martinez made his resignation effective Sept. 1. He was at a legislative conference in France that day and spent $290 in campaign funds at Le Kitchen Paris. He listed the meal as an officeholder expense.

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This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: How much has been spent on two Oklahoma legislative races so far?