Oklahoma's U.S. House incumbents coast to easy wins
November 04, 2008The Muskogee Phoeniz
Oklahoma’s five incumbents in the U.S. House breezed to easy victories in Tuesday’s general election.
Oklahoma’s four incumbent Republicans — U.S. Reps. John Sullivan, Frank Lucas, Tom Cole and Mary Fallin — and lone Democrat, U.S. Rep. Dan Boren, all posted dominating wins over lesser-known opponents, with almost all precincts reporting.
“No surprises at all,” said Keith Gaddie, a political science professor at the University of Oklahoma. “Those are five incumbent-gerrymandered districts ... they’re not designed to change hands.”
In the heavily Democratic 2nd District, which covers all of eastern Oklahoma and stretches from the Kansas border to the Texas state lines, Boren captured about 70 percent of the vote to defeat Republican challenger Raymond J. Wickson, a perennial candidate from Okmulgee.
A member of Congress’ Blue Dog Coalition of fiscally conservative Democrats, the Muskogee Democrat predicted his party would enjoy wider margins in the U.S. House and Senate and likely a Democratic president.
“It’s going to be a different environment,” Boren said. “When you have one-party control, whether it’s Democrats or Republicans, you have to make sure it doesn’t go too far one way or the other. My hope is groups like the Blue Dog Coalition can steer the Congress to the center.
“The country wants to be governed from the center.”
In the 3rd District, one of the nation’s largest congressional districts, Lucas, the state’s longest-serving member of the U.S. House, easily captured a sixth term in office with more than 70 percent of the vote. Democrat Frankie Robbins of Medford had about 23 percent, while independent Forrest Michael had nearly 7 percent.
“This has been one of those years where the national campaigns were full of so much rancor and intensity, it’s just a good year to have the campaign over with and a statement of strong support from the voters of the 3rd district of Oklahoma,” said Lucas, R-Cheyenne.
In the 4th District, incumbent Cole, a former state senator and secretary of state under former Gov. Frank Keating, won about 65 percent of the vote over Democrat Blake Cummings and independent David Joyce.
Cole, who serves as chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, the fundraising arm for the GOP in the U.S. House, said Oklahoma bucked a national trend toward electing Democrats.
"There’s no question that Oklahoma is probably the brightest spot in the country for Republicans,” said Cole, R-Moore. “They recognized this was a very liberal national Democratic ticket, and that just doesn’t sit very well in our state.”
In the 5th District, which includes most of Oklahoma City, former four-term Oklahoma lieutenant governor Fallin won a second term in office with more than 65 percent of the vote over Democratic challenger Steven Perry.
Despite the shift toward Democrats nationally, Fallin said she remains determined to work to improve the economy and keep taxes and health care costs low.
“As long as the new administration supports those types of goals, I’ll be there to help them when I can,” said Fallin, R-Oklahoma City.
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