MOORE – Voters in south-central Oklahoma handed U.S. Rep. Tom Cole a decisive victory in the Congressional District 4 Republican primary on June 18. Cole has held the seat for 21 years.
The incumbent, who serves as Chairman of the Federal House Appropriations Committee, will face Democrat challenger Mary Brannon from Washington, Oklahoma, in the Nov. 5 general election. Brannon topped Kody Macaulay from Moore in the June 18 Democratic primary. Unofficial results from the Oklahoma Election Board show Brannon garnered 60.67% of the vote compared to Macaulay’s 39.33%.
Congressman Cole dominated the Republican field of four challengers for the district seat that includes Lawton, Duncan and other southwest Oklahoma communities. Unofficial results show that Paul Bondar, who reportedly spent millions of dollars in an attack ad campaign against the incumbent, came in a distant second with 25.80% of the vote compared to Cole’s 64.63%.
Other Republican challengers included Andrew Hayes (4.08%), Rick Whitebear Harris (3.47%) and Nick Hankins (2.01%). In both primaries, Republican and Democrat, a total of 76,561 votes were cast, including by absentee mail, early voting and election day. Of those, 62,499 were in the Republican primary and 14,062 were in the Democratic primary.
Bondar posted on his Facebook page “Elect Paul L. Bondar” that he will run again in 2026.
“We did not make the runoff – but we did not lose. We laid the foundation for the future,” he wrote. “This campaign has always been about a movement. That movement is just beginning.”
He also encouraged his supporters to pick up any campaign signs and save them.
“We will definitely be using them again,” he wrote.