More file to run for office
Democrat Drew Edmondson and Republican Kevin Stitt officially joined the governor’s race Thursday morning on the second day of filing at the state Capitol.
Edmondson, 71, a Navy veteran and longtime politician, is making his second run for governor; he narrowly lost the Democratic nomination in 2010 to former Lt. Gov. Jari Askins. Stitt, 45, a Tulsa businessman, is making his first run for office.
Edmondson, who served 16 years as Oklahoma attorney general, walked to the Capitol from a few blocks away flanked by supporters, including teachers.
“My message to the teachers all last week and this week has been: ‘Thank you. Thank you for being here. Thank you for standing up for schools. Thank you for standing up for the children.’ I really appreciate what they have done,” Edmondson said.
“I think the Legislature has taken a good first step (in raising taxes for a teacher pay raise), but it is just that, a first step.”
Stitt, founder and CEO of Gateway Mortgage, was accompanied by his wife, Sarah, when he filed.
“We need new leadership in Oklahoma,” he said. “Everybody is so tired of what’s going on. It’s a broken system. It’s going to take an outsider. It’s going to take a business person
with fresh ideas to turn Oklahoma around.”
Seven Republicans, two Democrats and three Libertarians have filed for governor.
Because of term limits, Gov. Mary Fallin can’t run for re-election. Some other statewide officers must step aside because of term limits, including Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb and Auditor and Inspector Gary Jones, both of whom are running for the GOP gubernatorial nomination.
Former state Republican Party chairman Matt Pinnell filed for lieutenant governor on Thursday, joining a field that has three other Republicans, two Democrats and an Independent. Ivan Holmes, the former chairman of the state Democratic Party, is the Independent.
All four sitting congressmen who are running for re-election have drawn opponents. Three of the four have primary and general election opposition.
The 600 candidates who have filed in the first two days is more than the three-day candidate filing totals in at least the last four gubernatorial years, according to Bryan Dean with the Oklahoma Election Board.
The two-day partisan breakdown of candidates filing is:
• 248 Republicans
• 155 Democrats
• 8 Libertarians
• 12 Independents
• 177 nonpartisan candidates in judicial races.
Filing ends at 5 p.m. on Friday.
The primary elections will be held on June 26, with run-off primaries set for Aug. 28.
The general election is on Nov. 6.
Candidates for the state Legislature continued to dominate filing on Thursday. Of the 600 candidates filing, 322 are seeking state House or Senate seats.
Several of the legislative candidates on both days have been teachers, from both parties.
Kenton Patzkowsky, a 60-year-old Republican from the western Oklahoma town of Balco, filed for House District 60, a GOP seat.
Patzkowsky, a farmer and rancher, said he would have supported the tax package approved by the Legislature this month to give teachers a raise.
“I’m 100 percent for the teachers,’’ he said. “That’s all we got out there (where he is from) — agriculture and teachers. We’ve got to teach our kids.”
First in a very short line when filing opened on Thursday was Matt Hobbs, a middle school teacher from Broken Arrow. Hobbs filed as a Democrat for House District 98, an open seat.
Hobbs, who comes from a family of teachers, said, “I’m stepping up to try to help fix the problem.”
Numerous current and former educators have filed for office in the last two days as teachers from many districts continued a walkout that began April 2.
Casey Satterlee, an Edmond Republican who teaches at Putnam City North High School, filed for the state House District 82, where Republican Rep. Kevin Calvey must leave because of term limits.
“I think our public services have been neglected too long,’’ Satterlee said. “Public education needs to be funded — just all of our public services need help.”
Madeline Scott, a fourth-grade teacher at Adams Elementary in Oklahoma City, filed for House District 101 as a Democrat.
Scott, of Choctaw, said, “I think we need more educators in the House to better serve education interests.
“We’re still $120 million upside down in funding.”
A man who resigned from the Oklahoma Highway Patrol after an incident in which he kicked a handcuffed woman, filed as a Republican in House District 30.
Jake Rowland, of Bixby, said he filed “to be part of the solution.”
In regard to the 2008 incident that led to his resignation two years later, Rowland said, “It was an on-duty incident which involved me defending myself from felony assault. She spit on me from head down to my waist. Spitting is felony assault.”
Rowland said he pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of assault and battery and agreed to resign.
“I don’t think it will affect my candidacy at all,” he said. “I hope that it won’t.”
As dozens of candidates filed for House seats, another Republican incumbent announced his departure.
Rep. Rick West, R-Heavener, said he is quitting after one term because he disagrees with “the direction the Republican caucus is headed inside the Capitol.”
West voted against the legislation last month that raised taxes by $474 million to fund a $6,100 annual pay raise for teachers.
West’s announcement came a day after Republican Rep. Josh Cockcroft, of Wanette, said he wouldn’t run for another term.
West was facing opposition from a Democrat and a Republican in the House District 3 race. Cockcroft’s District 27 seat has already drawn one Democratic and four Republican candidates.