Latest Developments in U.S. Senate, 5th District races

U.S. Senate

Among the latest individuals thought to be considering running for Tom Coburn's seat is former governor Frank Keating. A resident of northern Virginia since 2003, Keating has some interesting voter registration information. Read this from a scathing article by blogger Michael Bates:

According to the most recent voter records I have handy, from July 2012, Francis A Keating II and Catherine H Keating are registered to vote in precinct 720071, with a residential address of 2121 S. Yorktown Ave. (a condo tower just east of Utica Square), Apt. 1203. No one named Keating owns property at that address, according to Tulsa County Assessor records, but Cathy Keating's mother, Frances Herndon Chandler, is listed as trustee of a trust that owns that unit.

But both Keatings list the following as their mailing address in their voter registration record (at least as of July, 2012):

820 NORTHEAST 23RD STREET
OKLAHOMA CITY OK 73105

Recognize that address? It's Oklahoma's Governor's Mansion, home to Brad and Kim Henry and their daughters from 2003 to 2011, and home for the last three years or so to Mary Fallin and her family. More than eleven years after moving out, Frank and Cathy Keating had not bothered to contact the county election board to change their voter record to their new mailing address. But they have continued to vote consistently, via absentee ballot. Presumably those ballots are being sent to a mailing address other than the one in their voter registration records.

It will be interesting to see if Keating decides to pursue this any further.

5th Congressional District

Joining announced Republican candidates Shane Jett, Patrice Douglas, and Steve Russell is State Sen. Clark Jolley (R-Edmond). Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Jolley is in the middle of his four-year term, and thus will only vacate his seat if he is ultimately elected Congressman.

On the Democratic side, State Sen. Al McAffrey has formed an exploratory committee. McAffrey was Oklahoma's first openly homosexual legislator.