Republican Runoff Results - Insurance Commission

Runoff Primary Election Results

The polls have officially closed - results are coming. I'll post the results for the major runoffs.


Insurance Commissioner - 2219 (100%) of 2219 precincts

• John Crawford:  35294 (29.45%)
• John Doak: 84570 (70.55%) - winner

2nd Congressional District - 570 (100%) of 570 precincts

• Daniel Edmonds: 3644 (32.73%)
• Charles Thompson: 7489 (67.27%) - winner

5th Congressional District - 324 (100%) of 324 precincts

• Kevin Calvey: 15899 (34.78%)
• James Lankford: 29814 (67.27%) - winner
  

The State Election Board is posting results here for these and other runoffs.

Vote: Runoff Primary Election

Don't forget to vote! The runoff election is today! While the ballot won't be as full as it was on July 27th, it is still very important that you go vote.

Here are the major races that will be decided today, in addition to numerous lower offices:

The 2nd Congressional District GOP race has come down to two men - Charles Thompson and Daniel Edmonds. The winner will go up against incumbent Democrat Congressman Dan Boren. If you're still undecided in this race, read this post. I endorsed, and recommend voting for, Daniel Edmonds.

The 5th Congressional District GOP race is between James Lankford and Kevin Calvey. The winner here will run against a Democrat and two Independents, although the GOP nominee is heavily favored to win in this district. If you're still undecided, read this post. I endorsed, and recommend voting for, James Lankford.

The race on the GOP side for Insurance Commissioner is now between John Crawford and John Doak. The winner will face incumbent Democrat Commissioner Kim Holland. This is a state-wide office, so all Republicans are eligible to vote in this race, at the very least. I endorsed, and recommend voting for, John Doak.

Don't forget to vote!

Huckabee Endorses John Doak for Insurance Commissioner

Former Arkansas Governor, 2008 GOP primary presidential candidate, and Fox News show host Mike Huckabee has endorsed John Doak for the GOP Insurance Commissioner runoff.

Huck PAC and I are proud to endorse John Doak for Insurance Commissioner of Oklahoma. John and I agree that Oklahoma needs true conservatives at all levels of government. John is ready to lead now – and will work to advocate for the common-sense solutions to insurance problems for the betterment of all in Oklahoma.

John is passionately pro-life, shares our social values and is opposed to federally mandated insurance – in fact, he’s the only candidate in this race who has joined a federal lawsuit against Obamacare. John is also leading the way against the 1% tax on health insurance claims paid in Oklahoma, a fight which will help bring businesses back to Oklahoma and make Oklahoma more business friendly.

Please join me in supporting John Doak for insurance commissioner for Oklahoma. 

The runoff election is on August 24th, and will be between John Doak and John Crawford. Since the primary, when Crawford eeked out a first place finish, Doak has racked up endorsements by GOP officials. This is the latest endorsement for Doak, and highest profile to date.

Crawford: Cox accidentally ran Inhofe endorsement ad

In a follow-up to our stories on July 22nd (BREAKING NEWS: Crawford Running 1998 Ad With Inhofe Endorsement and Inhofe: Crawford Ad "Inappropriate"; "Not Endorsing Crawford"), the John Crawford for Insurance Commissioner campaign has clarified the events behind the running of the ad.

According to Crawford, the ad (which first run in his 1998 re-election campaign) was mistakenly run by Cox Communications. Crawford had delivered two commercials to Cox - one to be run, and the other (with the Inhofe endorsement) for them to look at filming a similar one (but without the Inhofe section). A Cox employee inadvertently uploaded the wrong ad, which ran on television for a few days. Cox told the Crawford campaign that "this was [an] unintentional, human error."

Since then, the Crawford campaign has pulled the ad both from the airwaves, and from YouTube. The ad with the Inhofe endorsement had been posted on his website as well, but it no longer is on the internet.

While this may be the case, it does not explain why the Crawford campaign knowingly placed the ad on YouTube and on his website. A Cox employee might have mistakenly aired the wrong commercial, but they could not have edited his website. In addition, the ad was re-worked to include a "paid for by" disclaimer reflecting his 2010 account, so some work had to have been done on the ad before running it, and I find it hard to believe that Cox did not ask for approval on the re-worked edition.

Republican Primary Results - Insurance Commission

Click here for the entire Muskogee Politico series of election results maps.

Inhofe: Crawford Ad "Inappropriate"; "Not Endorsing Crawford"

After my post regarding GOP Insurance Commissioner candidate John Crawford's re-use of a 1998 campaign ad including an endorsement by U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe, I contacted the Inhofe office for a statement.

Jared Young, Sen. Inhofe's Communications Director, said, "Senator Inhofe has informed Mr. Crawford’s campaign on several occasions that it is inappropriate for them to use a 12 year old endorsement.  Senator Inhofe is not endorsing John Crawford in his 2010 race for the Insurance Commission."

You can read our initial exclusive story by clicking here.

BREAKING NEWS: Crawford Running 1998 Ad With Inhofe Endorsement

A Muskogee Politico exclusive

Republican Insurance Commission candidate John Crawford is running television ads touting an endorsement by U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe.

The problem? The ad was originally run in the 1998 campaign, when Crawford was running for reelection. He ended up losing the election to Democrat Carrol Fisher, largely as a result of an FBI investigation into contracts Crawford awarded to his son's software company on behalf of an insurance company that was in receivership. Fisher ironically later went to jail for embezzlement while in office.

Here is the ad Crawford is re-running:

[Editorial note: the ad was removed from the internet a few days after this post went online]

This isn't the first time this cycle that a candidate has attempted to pass off, or imply, an endorsement that simply does not exist (click here for another recent incident), and it certainly won't be the last.

Senator Inhofe did endorse Crawford in the 1998 election, but has not done so this year. I am awaiting a response from Senator Inhofe, and will post it as soon as I receive it.

UPDATE: Click here for the statement from Sen. Jim Inhofe's office.