Republicans pick Markum for county commission, Baughman for state rep race

Aug. 25—On Tuesday, Republican voters in Payne County decided local issues like the race for District 3 Payne County Commissioner and determined who would represent their party in the general election for State House District 34.

They also selected a slate of candidates for state and federal offices.

Democrats only had one race: to determine their candidate to complete the remainder of Sen. Jim Inhofe's unexpired term.

Current District 3 assistant Rhonda Markum defeated Sheryl Arthur Lacy to become one of a handful of women in Oklahoma elected to the office of county commissioner. Because there was no Democratic candidate, the commissioners race was decided in the Republican primary runoff.

Markum easily clinched the victory with 1,707 or 60.7% of the 2,812 votes cast to Arthur's 1,105 or 39.3%.

She had led the field of candidates with 42.99% in the June 28 primary that eliminated former District 3 Commissioner Kent Bradley. Lacy, a legacy candidate whose father Jim Arthur served as the District 3 Commissioner for 16 years, received 30.3% of the vote in that election.

The total number of votes cast in the County Commission race dropped by about 500 between the primary and the runoff.

IMarkum has been the assistant for two different County Commissioners, and her current boss, District 3 Commissioner Rocky Blasier, told the News Press she is well prepared, having already completed most of the training required for the top job.

Markum agreed she understands the job better than most people stepping into the role, having seen it up close for the past eight years.

"I'm familiar with both sides of this job," she said.

She says she's comfortable on a tractor but running the equipment isn't her job — she has a road foreman and a crew for that. Her role as commissioner is to set priorities and budgets and to serve as an administrator for the district and the county.

She doesn't have any major projects in mind yet. She'll need to do a good evaluation of the roads first. Markum also doesn't plan to make any major staffing changes, having run on the promise that current employees would keep their jobs if she was elected.

She wants to look for alternate sources of funding like grants to stretch funding for roads and bridges and plans to work with nearby tribal governments whenever possible.

River Road would be a good candidate for a partnership with the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma, she said.

There is no plan to pave more miles of road any time soon. Instead, she plans to focus on maintaining what is already there and serving the residents of District 3, which covers the western half of the county. Maintenance is the biggest challenge.

"There's just several miles of roads that are really needing attention," she said. "We can't get to all of them at one time."

Markum said she was grateful to all her supporters, to the people who helped behind the scenes and to Blasier, who paved the way for her when he chose not to seek re-election. She called him her No. 1 supporter.

Lacy told the News Press she planned to forego a watch party Tuesday in favor of going out to collect campaign signs. Her father Jim Arthur always made a point of having his signs cleaned up within 24 hours and she wanted to continue that tradition, her daugher Lauren told the News Press.

Lacy wished Markum luck in her new role and said she would support her efforts on behalf of the county but warned she doesn't plan to step aside.

"I may not be your county commissioner, but my dedication to the district does not die," Lacy said. "... We'll see what she can do with the next four years and I'll come back and run again next time."

Political newcomer Michael Baughman won a close race for the Republican nomination for State House District 34 Tuesday. He will go on to challenge incumbent Rep. Trish Ranson, D-Stillwater, in November.

Baughman finished with 746 votes to 734 for Andrew Muchmore, although Muchmore had led for much of the night. That shifted as the last two precincts came in.

"We watched the results come in one precinct at a time," Baughman said. "It was a little nerve-wracking at first but we got through.

"... I knew with the hard work and determination I put into this campaign that I was going to prevail in the end. It was by a slim margin but I still prevailed. I was immensely proud of everyone who came out to vote for me, everyone who supported me and everybody who volunteered on my campaign."

Buaghman had led the count in the June primary with 47.25 percent of the vote against Muchmore and DaRan Johnson. In fact, Baughman had 817 Stillwater Republicans vote for him in the June election. A total of 1,729 voted in that race. Muchmore had 566 votes in that race.

Baughman credited Johnson with lending him his support during the runoff.

"He has really mentored me and made sure I stayed connected to voters," Baughman said of Johnson. "He is a really solid guy and I respect him so, so much. He's probably one of the main reasons I won the runoff election ... his support and his guidance."

Oklahoma does not have an automatic recount trigger in state law based on margin of votes. A candidate on the ballot can request a recount regardless of the margin though that candidate must pay for the cost of the recount unless the recount changes the election results.

Muchmore was not available for comment on Election Night.