In one of the largest turnouts in recent election cycles, Donald Trump has been returned to the White House.
In Oklahoma, Trump took 66.2% and 1,035,217 actual votes compared to sitting Vice President Kamala Harris’ 31.9% or 499,043. Independent candidate Robert Kennedy logged 15,992 votes, or 1%, even after dropping out of the race. Independent Chris Garrity took 0.6 % statewide and Libertarian Chase Oliver garnered 9,184 or 0.3 %.
The Presidential election went as expected statewide, with Trump riding a veritable red wave taking all seven electoral votes. The state has never been in play and has been treated as a foregone conclusion by both candidates, neither of which visited.
What was a bit of a surprise was the huge amount of early voting. Statewide early voting was 59% by Republicans, 28% by Democrats and 12% Independent.
In Blaine County, the results were 3,054 for Trump, 671 for Harris, nine for Oliver, 44 for Kennedy and eight for Garrity.
In the race for the corporation commission, Republican Brian Bingham took the seat with 978,870 votes compared to Democrat Harold Spradling with 444,254 and Libertarian Chad Williams with 114,128 votes.
There were two state questions on the ballot as well.
State question 834 was a measure ensuring only legal Oklahoma residents would be allowed to vote in the state’s elections. It won handily, with 80.73 % of the vote statewide but failed with only 38.24 % in support countywide. A second question, 833, would have allowed the creation of public infrastructure districts. This in essence permits property owners to assess themselves taxes and/or sell bonds to fund the development of their property. It failed with 61.61 % of the vote against it statewide but was supported in the county with 88.07 % in favor of the measure.
Retention of justices of the Oklahoma Supreme Court was decided by the on the ballot was retained in office. They are William Musselman, District t1; Scott Rowland, District 4; and David Lewis, District 5. On the court of civil appeals, six judges were returned to the bench. They are James Huber, District 2, office 2; Timothy Downing, District 4, office 2; Thomas Prince, District 5, office 1; Robert Bell, District 5, office 2; E. Bay Mitchell, District 6, office 1; and Brian Goree, District 6, office 2.
Also up for grabs was the majority in the U.S. Senate, with races in 33 states, plus two special elections. Prior to election day, there were 28 sitting Democrat Senators and 38 Republicans. That lead to a favorable situation for the Democratic party, where the Senate could effectively block partisan Republican bills. Those races wound up with XX Democratic senators and XX Republicans, effectively flipping the Senate. The Senate was majority Democrat before election day, while the House of Representatives was majority Republican. Representatives serve two-year terms and are up for re-election in every even numbered year. The races for U.S. Representative sent xx Republicans and XX Democrats to D.C., giving the GOP the upper hand in both houses. The Republicans will now face little opposition to forwarding the party’s agenda.
Oklahoma’s Senate and Representative races were decided in the primary elections earlier this year, with its Republican delegation returning to the capital. Nationally, there was no clear winner as of press time Wednesday. The press and public had been warned that counting the vote could take days, even weeks, considering the scrutiny being placed on the swing states and the determination of election officials to avoid hints of conspiracy or election fraud or tampering.