- Democrats won both special elections on Tuesday, July 11th:
- Democrat Michael Brooks defeated Republican Joe Griffin in SD44 by a vote of 54.6% to 45.4%. The district has a Republican District Rating of 49.6 (30th most-Republican/18th most-Democrat; 11 GOP-held seats have lower scores, 1 Democrat seat has a higher score), and combining past history with the tremendous baggage of ex-Sen. Ralph Shortey's scandal means this outcome wasn't exactly shocking.
- Democrat Karen Gaddis defeated Republican Tressa Nunley in HD75 by a vote of 52.3% to 47.7%. The district has a Republican District Rating of 56.3 (40th most-Republican/61st most-Democrat), making this the most Republican State House seat held by Democrats. Gaddis' victory caught many people by surprise, but again, this special election was the result of another scandal. The Democrats have an unbeaten record in recent years in scandal-caused special elections, but will it translate into more widespread victories in the regularly-scheduled general election? Only time will tell.
- Edmond education activist and self-described Republican Angela Clark Little "joined with former Gov. David Walters and a who's who of Democratic luminaries to help raise money for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Drew Edmondson."
- Tulsa businessman Kevin Stitt has joined the GOP race for Governor. Stitt is the founder and CEO of Gateway Mortgage Group.
- State Rep. Leslie Osborn was replaced as A&B Chair by Speaker McCall today. A&B Vice-Chair Kevin Wallace will be the new budget chairman. Ironically and rather bizarrely, Democrat leaders are speaking out in support of Osborn.
- A new Oklahoma Republican political consulting firm has launched - Tomahawk Strategies principals include former AFP-OK director and Trump campaign leader Stuart Jolley.
- State Rep. John Michael Montgomery is running for SD32, the lone Democrat-held seat west of I-35 (open seat in 2018 due to term limits)
- Lieut. Governor candidate Matt Pinnell raised over $300k in his first ten weeks as a candidate, including donations from all 50 states.
Brief Blogging Bullets
Blogging has been on partial-hold due to vacation, so here are some brief blogging bullets to catch up on some of what's happened in the week or so.
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