Agricultural News
OKFB's Steve Thompson Reviews June 28 Oklahoma Primary
Wed, 29 Jun 2022 11:14:28 CDT
During the Oklahoma Primary Election on June 28, Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster, Ron Hays, had the chance to catch up with Oklahoma Farm Bureau Vice President of Public Policy, Steve Thompson. Thompson talks about important highlights for the GOP side of the election.
"It is a great day for Oklahoma," Thompson said. "This is such an exciting thing to be a part of. We are blessed at Farm Bureau to have a very active organization when it comes to politics and campaigns."
Thompson said he is impressed with how Governor Kevin Stitt has reached out to rural Oklahoma, and he feels that his effort has been evident in the polls.
Oklahoma Senator, James Lankford easily won his primary race with the votes showing a large percentage of the ballot in Lankford's favor.
"That was very reassuring because it teaches us all a little lesson that sometimes social media is not real life," Thompson sid. "Earlier on in the campaign, he took a lot of slings and arrows, and there is not a bigger rock in our political world than James Lankford and there is nobody we look up to more than him and he showed that he is about serious business and that he is about governing."
For the seat that senator Inhofe is vacating, Thompson said Congressman Mullen had a very strong showing. He is going to go into the runoff with a sizable lead over former house speaker T.W. Shannon, he added.
"It is still a sporting race, and we know there is a history of folks who finished second in the primary coming from behind to overtake the person who won the primary," Thompson said. "That is very much an active race, but you do have to note that congressman Mullen had a serious victory tonight and probably a 28-point lead heading to the runoff, but there is still a lot of summer left and that will be a sporting race to look forward to coming into August."
Thompson said congressional incumbents had a successful night.
"We start first and foremost with our good friend congressman Frank Lucas for western Oklahoma," Thompson said. "He carried north of 60 percent and has really been our ag champion for so long and I think the voters showed up for him."
Lucas faced some challenges, Thompson said, because money and effort were put against him.
"There is an anti-incumbent attitude out there these days," Thompson said. "I think they showed that we have a tremendous delegation that really does good work and even though there was money put in and challenges to all of them, they all came up on the top side of that one."
In addition to Lucas, both Tom Cole and Stephanie Bice easily won their congressional races and will represent the Republican Party in the November general election for their respective congressional seat.
Thompson said that in his 23 years of involvement, this year is the craziest election he has ever seen, referring to the Oklahoma congressional District 2 primary race. State and House Members Avery Frix and Josh Brecheen have advanced in the runoff, he added.
"When you look at all the votes and all the numbers, it is astounding," Thompson said. "Over 70 percent of the voters in that primary voted for somebody other than the two that will advance in the runoff, so it is still going to be a wild and crazy race moving forward."
Looking at the state races in the Senate and the House, Thompson said there were a couple of incumbents that looked like they would probably go down. All of OKFB's endorsed candidates, Thompson said, look like they will survive or advance.
"Truly there was so much money spent," Thompson said. "We received mailer after mailer every day at our house and I don't think that most of those were successful no matter how much money was put behind them. I think it shows that the voters in Oklahoma really want to know the people they vote for and sometimes campaigns are a lot of noise, but it's really about shoe leather and getting to know your folks and that's exciting."
Up next is the August runoff and there is going to be some very competitive races on the congressional side as well as several statewide state races and a few state legislative races which will receive a lot of attention and focus.
Click the LISTEN BAR below to listen to Ron Hays and Steve Thompson's conversation during the June 28 primary election.
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