ELECTION RESULTS

++ ELECTION RESULTS



OCPAC had 4 endorsements at stake this past Tuesday and three of those
races were successful. That brings our primary total to just one race
below 50% which is just below our lifetime average. As we go into more
marginal districts, the races are more difficult as much of the low
hanging fruit has already been picked over the past few years.
Oklahoma is to the place that it doesn’t necessarily need larger
margins of Republican lawmakers, but rather a better quality of
Republican lawmaker holding office. That is a difficult challenge, but
with time and effort, it is achievable.

Congratulations to James Lankford, his 2 to 1 margin of victory was
surprising to many folks including myself. I had a lot of e-mail
responses regarding last week’s e-mail. One was in agreement with my
assessment of the race as well as my statement that if I lived in the
district, I was leaning toward voting for Mr. Lankford. This person
indicated they were so disappointed with Kevin’s non-relevant attacks
that they had decided to support Mr. Lankford, though they had
previously worked for and contributed to Kevin‘s effort. If you have
supporters and contributors abandoning a candidate and going over to
the other candidate, then I believe you can say that Kevin’s last
minute change in campaign strategy backfired and thus the reason for
such a large victory.

Kevin did come by our meeting last week to thank the many members of
OCPAC who had worked for and contributed to his effort. He indicated,
it was obvious that is was not God’s will for him to be in public
service at this time, and as such, he would concentrate on his
business and family. I have a great deal of admiration for his
attitude as he had worked very hard and invested a lot of his life and
resources in the campaign over the past year and a half. Kevin is very
smart, tough and aggressive. If he should be called at another time to
serve in public office, we must hope he will step forward to fulfill
that opportunity.

One of the biggest surprises last Tuesday night was in the Senate
District 44 race between James Davenport and Ralph Shorty. That
outcome rivals the upset of the 2004 primary and run-off elections in
the race between Jason Murphey and Dale Depue. On primary night in
2004, Murphey had 44% of the vote to Depue’s 23% in a 6 candidate
race. When the dust settled on run-off night, Depue had won with 53%
of the vote. On July 27th, James Davenport was just 3 VOTES shy of
winning in a 4 candidate race. The run-off challenger was Mr. Ralph
Shorty (strange name as he is probably 6’5”) with 38% of the vote. The
3rd and 4th place candidates both endorsed James and urged Mr. Shorty
to drop out of the race to save resources for the general election.

Surprise, surprise, it wasn’t Mr. Davenport before us last Wednesday,
as Mr. Shorty received 58% in the run-off election to Mr. Davenport’s
42% of the vote. I believe both of these men worked very hard, but I
am now convinced, that the invasion of illegal aliens is so serious to
the long time citizens of District 44, whether they be Republicans,
Democrats or Independents, that the strength of Mr. Shorty on that
issue made the difference with the Republicans last Tuesday. Ralph has
the fire in his belly and with his hard work ethic and personable
attitude he will probably go on to victory in November. Ralph was very
impressive in the interview process last week and I believe he has the
potential to be an excellent senator. If he wins, it will be a pick up
for the Republicans as he is running for the open seat previously held
by Democrat Debbie Leftwhich.

I look forward to seeing everyone this Wednesday.

Charlie Meadows
Charliemeadows7@gmail.com