Oklahoma congressional races: four incumbents, one open seat, little doubt

Two years ago, Oklahoma had one of the hottest congressional races in the country, as then-Rep. Kendra Horn, a Democrat, and Republican challenger Stephanie Bice battled in a district considered an indicator of whether Democrats could hang on to seats in House districts carried by Donald Trump in 2016.

Turned out, many couldn’t, and Horn was among those who fell.

Last year, the Republican-controlled Legislature ensured there wouldn’t be any hot congressional races in Oklahoma in the near future.

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Lawmakers redrew the boundaries of the 5th District — which Bice now represents — to make it more rural and far more Republican. Republicans had a seven-point registration advantage over Democrats in 2020; now it’s an 18-point advantage.

The GOP now has registration advantages over Democrats ranging from 28 points to 16 points in the state’s five congressional districts.

Republican incumbents are running in four of the districts. The 2nd District, which includes most counties in eastern Oklahoma, is open, as incumbent Rep. Markwayne Mullin is running for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Jim Inhofe.

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Voters in all five districts have choices on their ballots. National handicappers have rated all of the seats as safe for Republicans. The website fivethirtyeight.com gives the Republican candidate in each district better than a 99% chance of winning, and the GOP candidates have done little campaigning, while still raising big sums from individuals and special interest groups.

Republican Rep. Kevin Hern, 60, of Tulsa, is running for a third term. Hern is a leader in the Republican Study Group, considered the most conservative wing of a conservative GOP caucus in the House. Hern was among the 57 members, all Republicans, who voted against a $40 billion military and humanitarian aid package for Ukraine; he was the only Oklahoman to vote against the aid.

1st District

Hern would be in the majority for the first time if the GOP reclaims the House, as expected, and could exert some influence on the Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over taxes and entitlement programs.

Hern is one of the most active stock traders in Congress and by far the most active in the Oklahoma congressional delegation. Companies owned by Hern and his wife accepted loans from the pandemic.

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Democrat Adam Martin, 27, of Tulsa, grew up in Wagoner and graduated from Oklahoma State University. He has advocated strongly for labor, calling for an increase in the minimum wage, elimination of so-called right-to-work laws and a federal guarantee of jobs. He also has called for the repeal of the 2017 tax cuts and for a tax on companies with large wage gaps between executives and workers.

Independent Evelyn Rogers, 70, of Tulsa, is also on the ballot.

2nd District

Josh Brecheen, 43, of Coalgate, won the Republican nomination over a crowded field seeking to succeed Mullin in the House. Brecheen, a rancher, served in the Oklahoma state Senate and worked for the late U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn.

Brecheen has portrayed himself as a fiscal conservative in the mold of Coburn and got help from a political action committee linked to the Club for Growth, an anti-tax, limited government organization that backed Coburn in his races.

Brecheen has reported raising nearly $540,000 for his race, including nearly $67,000 this month.

Democrat Naomi Andrews, 39, of Tulsa, a business development executive, said she grew up in Beggs, in the Muscogee (Creek) reservation and vowed to protect tribal sovereignty. She has expressed support for abortion rights, a higher minimum wage, universal health care and protecting Social Security.

Independent Ben Robinson is also on the ballot.

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3rd District

Republican Rep. Frank Lucas, 62, of Cheyenne, is the longest-serving Oklahoman in the House and, after Inhofe leaves in January, will be the dean of the Oklahoma congressional delegation.

And he will be representing a district that, in its new iteration, resembles the one he first won in 1994.

Republicans in the Oklahoma Legislature, in making the 5th District more Republican, lopped off some parts of Oklahoma City and put them in Lucas’ largely rural 3rd District, which also includes the Panhandle, Enid, Stillwater and Altus. The old 6th District — which was eliminated after the 2000 census led to the loss of one U.S. House seat in Oklahoma — also included big sections of Oklahoma City and ran to the Panhandle.

Lucas has won reelection by huge margins in recent years. In June, he easily dispatched former state Southern Baptist leader Wade Burleson and another challenger in the primary.

Lucas, a rancher, has served as chairman of the Agriculture Committee and has helped write several farm bills. He is now in line to lead the Science, Space and Technology Committee if Republicans regain control of the House.

Democratic challenger Jeremiah Ross, 39, of Bristow, is an attorney. He supports abortion rights and has criticized Oklahoma Republicans in the U.S. House for voting against the infrastructure bill approved by Congress and for voting to overturn Electoral College votes from Arizona and Pennsylvania.

4th District

Republican Rep. Tom Cole, 73, of Moore, has represented the 4th District since 2003. Before that, he had a long history in politics that includes serving in the Oklahoma state Senate and as chairman of the Oklahoma Republican Party. Earlier this year, Cole, a Chickasaw, became the longest-serving Native American in the history of the U.S. House.

Cole is an influential member of the House Appropriations Committee, from which he has steered money to several causes, including Alzheimer’s research and the Pentagon. He is the top Republican on the House Rules Committee, the last stop for legislation headed for the House floor, and could become chairman in January.

Democrat Mary Brannon, 70, of Washington, is running against Cole for the second time. She got 33% of the vote in 2018.

On her website, Brannon pledges to fight cuts to Social Security and Medicare, says tax cuts approved in 2017 for the wealthy should be repealed and to prevent privatization of veterans hospitals.

Cole has long called for a bipartisan commission to address the future finances of entitlement programs.

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5th District

Bice, 48, of Oklahoma City, won the seat by four points in 2020 when it included most of Oklahoma County and Pottawatomie and Seminole counties. She reclaimed the seat for Republicans after Horn’s surprise victory in 2018.

Republicans knew the district was becoming more competitive, but many were stunned that Horn, a political unknown, beat Republican Rep. Steve Russell in 2018.

Last year, the Legislature redrew it, subtracting Democratic areas in Oklahoma City and adding rural Logan and Lincoln counties and parts of Canadian County that Bice had represented in the state Senate.

Bice has been a loyal Republican vote in the past two years and a harsh critic of President Joe Biden, after voting not to certify Electoral College votes from Arizona and Pennsylvania. According to a ProPublica database, she has voted 96% of the time with House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, of California.

Bice serves on the same committees that Horn did — Armed Services and Science, Space and Technology. She has joined Cole and Lucas in securing earmarked projects for the district, targeting medical research and road improvements.

Democrat Joshua Harris-Till, 32, of Oklahoma City, is running for Congress for the third time. In 2014 and 2016, he filed as a candidate in the 2nd District; he got 23% of the vote against Mullin in 2016.

Harris-Till served as the national president of Young Democrats of America. He supports abortion rights and has hit Bice for voting against bills to protect Americans’ access to contraception and to protect the right to same-sex and interracial marriage.

Independent David Frosch, 37, of Oklahoma City, is also on the ballot.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: 5 Oklahoma congressional races: What to know