Cooper, Hamon continue youth movement on OKC Council
James Cooper will be Oklahoma City's first openly gay councilman, winning a five-way race in Tuesday's primary to take inner-northwest's open Ward 2 seat. JoBeth Hamon will succeed retiring Meg Salyer as the central city's councilwoman in Ward 6 on the strength of a grassroots campaign that topped a far better-funded competitor. Voters in northwest and southwest Oklahoma City chose to stick with names they knew, electing Mark Stonecipher to a second term from Ward 8 and David Greenwell to a third term from Ward 5. Cooper, 36, was making his second bid for the Ward 2 seat after losing four years ago to Ed Shadid, who is retiring after eight years on the council. Cooper, a public school teacher and member of
the Central Oklahoma Transportation and Parking Authority board, ran on promises to strengthen neighborhoods. He advocated doubling the bus fleet and adopting a “human needs” component in MAPS 4 to tackle homelessness, domestic violence and other social ills, and improve educational outcomes. Hamon, 28, upset Nathaniel Harding, an oil-and-gas executive who raised more than $140,000. An education coordinator at the Oklahoma Mental Health Association, Hamon depended on many donations of $25 to $50 and reported raising only $18,600. The election of Cooper and Hamon continues a generational shift toward under-40 council members that began with David Holt's election as mayor a year ago. “As I've been telling people, starting in April a majority of the city's elected officials will have served less than two years,” Holt said. “I view that as an opportunity to harness new energy and new ideas. We'll need them as we move into this new chapter for our city and develop a MAPS 4 proposal that continues our city's momentum and extends it to all our citizens.” With all 34 precincts reporting in Ward 2, Cooper had 2,431 votes, or 53 percent. Four opponents split the remainder, none with more than 18 percent. In Ward 6, Hamon had 1,332 votes, or 54.4 percent, to 1,012 votes, or 41.3 percent for Harding. Jim Holman had 105 votes, or 4.3 percent. In Ward 5, Greenwell had 1,314 votes, or 65.5 percent to beat Kristina Hull, who won 692 votes, or 34.5 percent without campaigning. In Ward 8, Stonecipher had 2,696 votes, or 65.7 percent, to 1,408 votes, or 34.3 percent for Lauren Durmus. Hamon extends a streak of women holding the Ward 6 seat. With Ward 7 Councilwoman Nikki Nice, the council will have two women for the first time in a number of years. Tuesday outcome means there will be no runoff on April 2. New terms begin April. The council has nine members, the mayor and a council member from each of the eight wards. The mayor's annual salary is $24,000, and each council member's annual salary is $12,000.