Sheriff Kenny Stradley wins another term
OKLAHOMA CITY – All three state legislators from Comanche County were re-elected Tuesday, and Sheriff Kenny Stradley won another term in an office he has held continuously for three decades.
In addition, President Trump, Senator Inhofe and Congressman Tom Cole carried the county by comfortable margins. The voters also rejected both state questions.
State Rep. Daniel Pae, R-Lawton, won a second two-year term in House District 62, defeating Lawton Democrat Larry Bush by 1,134 votes: 6,102 (55.12%) to 4,968 (44.88%).
Rep. Rande Worthen, R-Lawton, won a third two-year term in House District 64, defeating Kyle Emmett Meraz, D-Lawton, by 744 votes: 4,822 (54.18%) to 4,078 (45.82%).
In House District 65, Rep. Toni Hasenbeck, R-Elgin, defeated Jennifer Kerstetter, D-Marlow, to earn a second two-year term in the Oklahoma Legislature.
Hasenbeck’s legislative district encompasses 23 precincts in Comanche, Cotton and Stephens counties. She carried Comanche County by a margin of 75.1% to 24.9%, and won her race by a margin of 79.12% to 20.88%, receiving 9,846 votes to 2,598 for her opponent.
Stradley, a Democrat, coasted to victory over his Republican challenger, Dell Galloway: 21,619 votes (61.19%) to 13,712 (38.81%).
The Trump/Pence Republican ticket captured 58.66% of the Comanche County vote, compared to 38.59% for the Biden/ Harris Democratic ticket. The Libertarian ticket of Jo Jorgensen and Jeremy Spike Cohen received 699 votes (1.96% of the total cast), and the three Independent slates split the other 0.79% of the 35,616 votes cast in Comanche County for President of the United States.
Republican U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe zipped past his chief opponent, Democrat Abby Broyles, by a margin of 59.25% to 35.75%.
Oklahoma’s 4th District U.S. Rep. Tom Cole, a Republican, outdistanced his Democratic opponent, Mary Brannon, 61.36% to 34.96% of the 35,437 ballots counted in that race. Libertarian Bob White received the other 3.68%.
Incumbent Corporation Commissioner Todd Hiett, R-Kellyville, mauled his challenger, Todd Hagopian, a Bixby Libertarian: 69.18% to 30.82% of the 32,551 votes cast in Comanche County in that contest.
State Question 805 – which would have prohibited judges and prosecutors from using sentence enhancements to lengthen the time that repeat, nonviolent offenders are confined in prison beyond the maximum times listed in state law – was rejected: 53.6% no to 46.4% yes.
Comanche County voters also turned thumbs down on State Question 814, which would have modified the allocation of Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust payments: 55.09% no to 44.91% yes.
County voters favored retention of three Supreme Court justices and five other appellate judges.
In the presidential, congressional and senatorial races, 29.5% of the votes counted in Comanche County were cast by absentee mail and early voting. Absentee mail and early voting accounted for 36.8% of the votes cast in the Pae/ Bush contest and 34.8% of the ballots counted in the Worthen/Meraz race.