Mullin, Shannon head to GOP primary runoff election in race for Inhofe seat

U.S. Rep. Markwayne Mullin and former Oklahoma House Speaker T.W. Shannon headed to a Republican runoff on Tuesday in the race to replace U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, as the two finished atop a field of 13 candidates who had little time to introduce themselves to voters.

With 99.8% of precincts reporting, Mullin, a five-term congressman from Westville, captured 44% of the vote, falling short of the 50% plus one vote needed to avoid a runoff. Shannon, an Oklahoma City banker making his second run for the Senate, got 18%. Mullin had about 93,000 more votes than Shannon.

The runoff is Aug. 23.

In an interview in Tulsa with News 9, Mullin said he expected to get into a runoff with a percentage in the low 40s.

“To see where we’re at right now, it is extremely exciting for us,” he said. “But we’ve got this fight, it’s going to start again tomorrow. We started this to take it all the way to the Senate and we’re not going to get off the gas now. We’re going to keep it to the floor and outwork everybody still.”

Shannon told supporters in Oklahoma City, “I have always kept my word to you and tonight will be no different and this race will be no different and when I'm the next United States senator, it will be no different."

The comment was an apparent reference to Mullin breaking his pledge to serve only three terms.

"The choice in front of Oklahoma conservatives is pretty simple: Do you want an Oklahoma-first conservative in Washington? Or do you want the Washington, D.C., establishment swamp," Shannon said.

Front-runners Mullin and Shannon had advantages with a short time to campaign

The tight time frame and crowded field gave a huge advantage to Mullin, a sitting congressman whose constituents make up a fifth of the state, and Shannon, a former House speaker long considered a potential star in the Republican Party.

Scott Pruitt, who served as EPA administrator and as Oklahoma attorney general, got only 5% of the vote and attracted little money for his last-minute campaign. Pruitt, of Tulsa, resigned from the EPA in 2018 amid numerous scandals about his official spending and has been out of the public eye since.

State Sen. Nathan Dahm, of Broken Arrow, known for pushing through legislation to expand gun rights and shrink abortion rights, received a major boost from a group associated with U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, which spent nearly $900,000 on Dahm’s behalf. Still, Dahm garnered 12% of the vote

Luke Holland, a longtime Inhofe aide who received the senator’s endorsement, got 11%. Holland has never held elective office and, despite help from Inhofe and donors loyal to the senator, faced long odds.

"Campaigning for the U.S. Senate to replace Senator Inhofe was an experience unlike any other," Holland said. "While I am disappointed we didn’t prevail in this election, my commitment to serving our country and bringing God back to the center of things does not end here today."

Inhofe, 87, who has been in the Senate since 1994, announced in late February that he would step down after the current Congress ends in January, leaving four years on the term he won in 2020.

Gov. Kevin Stitt called a special election, with dates coinciding with the already scheduled elections. Inhofe’s retirement means both of Oklahoma’s seats in the U.S. Senate will be on the ballot in November for the first time since 2014.

The first round of the GOP primary was mostly free of conflict. Mullin said in Oklahoma City on Tuesday that he would not go negative in the race, but attack ads are often financed now by outside groups.

The results on Tuesday ensure the Republican nominee will be a member of one of the state’s largest tribes. Mullin, 44, is a Cherokee; Shannon, 44, is a Chickasaw. Both tribes have a history of making large donations.

In regard to the U.S. Supreme Court decision on Indian reservations, McGirt v. Oklahoma, the two have counseled for cooperation among the tribes and state and local governments, rejecting calls made by some of their opponents to disestablish the reservations through legislation.

The Republican nominee will face former U.S. Rep. Kendra Horn, 46, an Oklahoma City Democrat, who did not have a primary contest.

“Politics in this country and in our state has gotten too extreme and it doesn’t have to be this way,” Horn said Tuesday. “We don’t have to accept extremism as our only option.  I’m the only independent leader in this race with a track record to prove it.”

Libertarian Robert Murphy and independent Ray Woods will also be on the Nov. 8 ballot.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Mullin, Shannon head to Republican primary runoff for Senate seat