MuskogeePolitico Breaks Down State Election Filings
Some in-depth on the candidate filing details
Thursday, April 19, 2018 – by Jamison Faught
As mentioned in my previous post, a record 794 candidates filed for office last week. In this post, I went through some statistics on the filings, but here I’ll break it down further and give some more details on races.
U.S. HOUSE RACES
1st District: 10 candidates filed to replace outgoing Congressman Jim Bridenstine. The five Democrats are seemingly led by attorney Tim Gilpin (who leads the field with $13k raised). The Republican side has the strong lead, with businessman Kevin Hern as the frontrunner ($1.1M raised), followed by former Air Force captain Andy Coleman ($230k raised), former DA Tim Harris ($250k raised), State Sen. Nathan Dahm (CPI of , $95k raised), and pastor Danny Stockstill ($25k raised). Hern has the big money advantage, but Harris may have better name recognition due to his tenure as District Attorney and Coleman has been endorsed by former presidential candidate Rick Santorum (who won the 1st District in 2012) and five Freedom Caucus congressmen.
2nd District: incumbent Republican Markwayne Mullin should be facing his toughest reelection yet, as he is breaking his oft-repeated term limits pledgeand seeking a fourth term in office. Mullin has the money lead as expected (60% from mostly out-of-state PACs), with just under $1M raised and $540k on hand. The three Republicans are former Army captain and 2016 GOP challenger Jarrin Jackson ($140k raised), 2016 Independent candidate John McCarthy ($115k raised), and economics professor Brian Jackson ($25k raised; no relation to Jarrin). Four Democrats also filed — Tahlequah mayor Jason Nichols ($33k raised), former Army colonel and schoolteacher Clay Padgett ($31k raised), Creek Nation official Elijah McIntosh, and perennial candidate Virginia Blue Jeans Jenner. Libertarian Richard Castaldo and Independent John Foreman also filed.