#OK2014 Senate Spending Tops $5 Million

More than $5 million made way into Republican race to replace Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn
by Chris Casteel

WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. James Lankford and state Rep. T.W. Shannon spent more than $4 million combined in the Republican race to replace U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, while two dark money groups added about $1.5 million, according to campaign finance reports.

Lankford, of Oklahoma City, got 57 percent of the vote in the June 24 Republican primary to fill the last two years of Coburn’s term, while Shannon got 34 percent in the seven-man field.

Lankford reported that, through June, he had spent $2.7 million for the election cycle that began in late 2012; that figure includes nearly $357,000 Lankford had spent on his House re-election campaign before Coburn’s announcement in January that he would retire at the end of the current congressional session.

Lankford collected more than $500,000 in the last three weeks of June, with some of that coming from political action committees that had stayed neutral during the race but donated right after Lankford’s win. Among those was a political action committee linked to Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Tulsa, that gave Lankford’s campaign $5,000 two days after the primary.

The two-term congressman, who is the heavy favorite to win Coburn’s seat, ended June with $371,000 in his campaign account. In the general election, he will face either state Sen. Connie Johnson, of Oklahoma City, or retiree Jim Rogers, of Midwest City, who are squaring off in the Democratic primary on Aug. 26.

Read the complete story on NewsOK.com