Horn upsets Russell
In a political upset for the history books, Kendra Horn broke a 44-year Republican hold on Oklahoma’s 5th congressional district Tuesday, turning the Oklahoma City-area district blue for the first time since the mid-1970s.
Defying expectations, polls, experts, opponents and history itself, Horn defeated U.S. Rep. Steve Russell in a race that went down to the wire. Horn garnered 121,013 votes, or 51 percent of the total, to Russell’s 117,725 votes, or 49 percent.
“I am so excited and inspired by all of our amazing supporters and volunteers, all of the work that we put in to change the conversation and the way that we’re running campaigns,” Horn said on KOCO-TV late Tuesday night. “We talked about health care, we talked about education and all of these people are the ones who helped make it happen.
“It’s a historic election moment for a number of reasons. I am the third woman ever elected to represent Oklahoma in Congress, and we are talking about issues that are so important.”
It was a race that nearly no one outside Oklahoma expected Horn to win. She was largely ignored by national Democratic groups who funneled large amounts of money elsewhere. Every major rating organization considered the 5th District to be Republican and FiveThirtyEight, the
popular polling website, gave Horn a seven percent chance of victory on Tuesday afternoon. Horn, of Oklahoma City, jumped into the race last July, quickly posting impressive fundraising figures and amassing a small army of volunteers. She rarely strayed from two core topics — health care and education — that came to define her campaign over its 481-day existence. Her fundraising figures topped those of her five Democratic challengers, and eventually topped Russell’s. She fell short of the 50.1 percent threshold needed to win the Democratic nomination on June 26 but dominated a runoff two months later. She rarely mentioned her Democratic opponents during the primary, keeping the focus always on the congressman. Russell, of Choctaw, the incumbent Republican in a Republican district, was the clear favorite. Yet, his campaign was slow from the start — so slow in fact that there were rumors in Republican circles last year that he may not be seeking re-election. Russell dismissed such rumors as the mechanizations of political opponents. “Colonel Russell is heading back to Washington tomorrow and will continue serving,” the Russell campaign said in a statement. “We are a great nation that is still worth fighting for.” As the campaign entered its final month, and Horn’s strengths were clear, Russell’s public schedule ramped up and it was largely focused on industry events. There was an oil and gas conference, an aerospace forum, a health center ribbon cutting, Chamber of Commerce talks. Sen. James Lankford, who represented the district before Russell, joined him on the campaign trail in October. Horn and Russell’s lone debate, at City Presbyterian Church on Oct. 24, was raucous. Drowned out at times by the boos, hisses and laughter of Horn supporters, Russell painted himself as a calm alternative in an age of incivility. His campaign used a clip of the contentious NonDoc debate in a campaign ad — along with dire images of pipe bombs, mass shootings and rioting — that aired in the election’s final week. Republicans maintained control of the state’s other U.S. House seats Tuesday. Veteran Reps. Frank Lucas, R-Cheyenne, and Tom Cole, R-Moore, easily won. Cole won 148,441 votes (63 percent) to Mary Brannon’s 77,802 votes (33 percent) and Ruby Peters’ 9,264 votes (4 percent). Lucas won 172,757 votes, or 74 percent, to Frankie Robbins’ 61,095 votes, 26 percent. In eastern Oklahoma, Rep. Markwayne Mullin, R-Westville, topped Tahlequah Mayor Jason Nichols, along with two other opponents. Mullin took 139,921 votes, or 65 percent. Nichols won 64,861 votes, or 30 percent. Independent John Foreman earned 6,369 votes, or three percent, and Libertarian Richard Costaldo won 4,133 votes, two percent. In the Tulsa area, Republican Kevin Hern beat Democrat Tim Gilpin, keeping that district Republican after the ascension of former Rep. Jim Bridenstine to NASA administrator. With 95 percent of precincts reporting, Hern had 145,379 votes, or 59 percent, and Gilpin had 100,061 votes, or 41 percent.