An effort to elect nearly 20 Republican candidates across Oklahoma by a group that some have labeled a cult disintegrated during Tuesday’s primary election night with only one of the religious band’s known contenders making it as far as a runoff election.
From congressional seats down to county sheriff’s races, candidates supported by the Ekklesia of Oklahoma bombed at the polls, with most of their contenders getting soundly defeated by other GOP candidates.
Daniel Navejas, leader of the Ekklesia, did not respond to the Ledger’s request for a comment on the failure of the group’s candidates.
The group, which is headquartered in a large northeast Guthrie home in Logan County had endorsed candidates from Congress down to sheriff.
Of the 19 known candidates backed by the radical anti-abortion operating out of an upscale Guthrie home, only Warren Hamilton in Senate District 7 made it as far as a runoff. The remaining Ekklesia (also spelled Ecclesia) candidates were trounced by their GOP opponents.
In a three-way race in District 7, incumbent GOP Senator Larry Boggs and Ekklesia-backed candidate Warren Hamilton battled for the top two spots in that race. A third candidate, Kevin Woody finished a distant third.
Senate District 7 is in Eastern Oklahoma and includes all of Haskell, Latimer, and Pittsburg counties and parts of Hughes and Okfuskee Counties.
Total results from that contest, according to Oklahoma Election Board tallies, show Boggs capturing 3,348 votes for 46.2 percent of the primary vote; Hamilton with 3,045, or 42.22 percent of the balloting; and Woody, with 755 votes for 11.36 percent.
A candidate needs 50 percent plus one vote to avoid a runoff. Boggs and Hamilton will battle it out in a runoff slated for Aug. 25.
Sen. Boggs told the Ledger following the election that he “expected more of the same” from his Ekkelsia-backed challenger Warren Hamilton in the runoff election.
“I think most people are aware of who they are and what they’re doing,” Boggs told the Ledger.
“I think some people ought to be careful of who (they) support in the name of Jesus.”
Hamilton could not be reached for comment by deadline.
The Guthrie clan also endorsed four congressional candidates, all of whom lost by wide margins.
The Ekklesia backed state Senator Joseph Silk for Oklahoma’s District 2 seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. He was thrashed by incumbent Congressman Markwayne Mullin.
Mullin received 53,1116, garnering 79.91percent of the total votes compared to Silk who captured only 8,440 votes, or 12.7 percent, of the total ballots cast. A third candidate in the race, Rhonda Hopkins won 4,910 votes, or 7.39 percent of the votes.
The Ekklesia also endorsed James Taylor in the District 4 congressional seat primary won by long-time Oklahoma Republican Congressman Tom Cole.
Cole easily outdistanced Taylor by almost 45,000 votes.
The final tally in the race for all candidates was Tom Cole, 55,682 or 76.34 percent; James Taylor, 11,073 votes for 15.16 percent; Trevor Snipes 4,355 for 5.97 percent of the total ballots; and Gilbert O. Sanders drawing 1,832 ballots, or 2.51 percent of the votes.
In congressional District 5, the Ekklesia candidates Miles V. Rahimi and Jake Merrick also fared poorly.
It was one of the most crowded primaries for a U.S. Representative race in recent history with nine GOP candidates on the ballot vying to unseat incumbent Democratic Congresswoman Kendra Horn in November.
Rahimi earned 966 votes, or 1.42 percent of all ballots cast while Merrick received 1,736 votes, or 2.55 percent of the ballots cast.
The top two contenders in the CD5 race were GOP veteran Terry Neese and GOP state Representative Stephanie Bice. Neese garnered 24,822 votes for 36.49 percent of the total, while Bice captured 13,781 or 25.41 percent of the total vote. The two will battle it out in an August runoff.
In two county sheriff’s races the Ekklesia-endorsed candidates also lost.
In the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s race, the Ekklesia-endorsed candidate Mike McCully came in last out of three candidates.
Incumbent Sheriff P.D. Taylor earned 29,447, or 48.3 percent of the ballots cast, narrowly missing an outright win. His two challengers, the Ekklesia-endorsed Mike McCully finished third with only 11,407 votes and 18.71 percent of the vote. The second-place finisher was Tommie Johnson III, who received 20,112 votes or 32.99 percent.
An Ekklesia-backed sheriff’s candidate in far Northeastern Oklahoma’s Washington County also lost.
Out of four candidates, Ekklesia-supported Aaron Vaughan finished third in a four-man race. He was bested by Scott Owen who earned 3,460 votes, or 46.19 percent of the total ballots cast. Jeff Felser finished second with 2,127 votes for 28.39 percent of cast ballots. The fourth candidate Mick Lay received only 600 votes for 8.01 percent of the total ballots cast.
It is believed there may have been other Ekklesia-supported and endorsed primary candidates on the ballot, but the Ledger has only been able to confirm 19 of them.
Ekklesia members also opposed Medicaid expansion in Oklahoma. That proposal, State Question 802, narrowly was approved by voters by a vote of 340,279 to 333,761.