Tag Archives: Senate Election

Randy Brogdon Drops Out Of Governor Race To Seek Senate Seat

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Randy BrogdonRandy Brogdon was the only Republican challenger to Mary Fallin’s nomination for Governor in 2014. That has now changed. Brogdon sent an email to backers of his campaign yesterday announcing his intent to drop outo the the governor’s race to seek the Senate seat being vacated by current Senator Tom Coburn.

In this letter, he writes about the dilemma he faced in making the decision to switch gears at this point in the race. He had been hesitant to go to Washington, but after considering it and talking to many people, he felt that he could do more for the cause of liberty if he were in Washington.

With Randy’s departure from the governor’s race, we are left with only three candidates. Incumbent Republican Mary Fallin, Democratic Joe Dorman, and Independent Richard Prawdzienski. Of the three left, only Richard has been actively engaged in changing Oklahoma’s harsh ballot access laws.

Full text of the letter below. Continue reading →

Senator Coburn Resigns; Special Election Set For November

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Senator Tom CoburnSenator Coburn has decided he will resign early from the Senate. He had previously expressed plans to not run again in 2016 but has decided to resign two years early.

Serving as Oklahoma’s senator has been, and continues to be, one of the great privileges and blessings of my life. But, after much prayer and consideration, I have decided that I will leave my Senate seat at the end of this Congress.

As a citizen, I am now convinced that I can best serve my own children and grandchildren by shifting my focus elsewhere. In the meantime, I look forward to finishing this year strong. I intend to continue our fight for Oklahoma, and will do everything in my power to force the Senate to re-embrace its heritage of debate, deliberation and consensus as we face our many challenges ahead.

Senator Coburn’s current term isn’t due to to end until 2016. So that means that a special election is required to fill the remaining two years of his term. Thanks to the timing of Coburn’s resignation, Governor Fallin was able to set the special election to correspond with the November general election.

This puts Oklahoma in a position it doesn’t normally find itself in, that of electing two US Senators in a single year. While whoever is elected to fill Coburn’s term will only serve two years before being back up for reelection, it is still a unique experience for Oklahoma voters.

We will keep an eye on this special election as well as that for Senator Inhofe.