Holt elected OKC mayor
David Holt coasted past two opponents in Tuesday’s primary election to become Oklahoma City’s 36th mayor and initiate a generational shift in city leadership.
Holt, 38, ran a campaign centered on the theme of OneOKC, promising to give meaningful voice to communities too long muted in the civic conversation.
“I’m honored at the chance to be the mayor of my hometown,” he said.
With 234 of 234 precincts reporting, Holt had 20,409 votes, or 78.5 percent. Randall Smith had 2,138 votes, or 8.2 percent, and Taylor Neighbors had 3,443 votes, or 13.3 percent.
Holt built a network anchored by 1,300 endorsements and a deep resume in city politics.
Holt said he looked forward to leveraging the coalition he assembled “to write the next chapter in our city’s history.”
“Working together is the only way for a diverse city to succeed,” he said.
He characterized the election results as a mandate for his vision to move Oklahoma City forward.
Holt is an attorney and was elected as a Republican to the state Senate from northwest Oklahoma City’s District 30 in 2010.
He served from 2006 to 2010 as Mayor Mick Cornett’s chief of staff.
Cornett is stepping down after 14 years and a record four terms as mayor. He is campaigning for the Republican nomination for governor.
Holt will resign from the Senate before he is sworn in as mayor on April 10.
Holt raised $434,000 in cash for his campaign through Jan. 29, the last campaign finance reporting deadline before the primary.
Cornett raised about double that amount for his 2014 re-election campaign, when he was challenged by Ward 2 Councilman Ed Shadid.
Neighbors, a junior piano major at the University of Oklahoma, reported raising $3,000 from family and a familyrelated business enterprise.
Smith did not campaign. Election officials said 310,391 voters were registered and eligible to cast ballots in the mayor’s race in Oklahoma, Canadian, Cleveland and Pottawatomie counties.
Turnout was 8.4 percent on a seasonably cool but dry day, with highs in the low 50s, a contrast to the cold, wet weather primary voters faced in recent years.
Author, politician
Holt’s tenure as Cornett’s chief of staff coincided with the arrival of the NBA and voters’ approval, in 2009, of the MAPS 3 public improvements program.
Holt wrote “Big League City: Oklahoma City’s Rise to the NBA,” his 2012 book about Oklahoma City’s renaissance and the successful effort to land the Thunder.
As mayor, he will preside over the completion of the biggest MAPS 3 projects — the nearly $300 million convention center, the $131 million streetcar system, and the $139 million downtown park.
Looking beyond the current 27-month streets rehab program funded by the 1-cent MAPS sales tax, Holt said there would be about 18 months to shape the contours of MAPS 4.
He said he would “stand for the idea that MAPS is transformative, that it’s not run-of-the-mill projects.”
Education, domestic violence and mental health “may be issues we want to look at,” he said.
Smith and Neighbors entered the race after Oklahoma County District 2 Commissioner Brian Maughan dropped out in October.
Maughan had prospects for doing well in south Oklahoma City but was seriously injured in a traffic accident June 8.
He said he was withdrawing to concentrate on his recovery from broken bones in his right foot.
Mayor is a nonpartisan office in Oklahoma City and pays $24,000 per year.
The mayor is one of nine city council members and the only council member elected citywide.