OKLAHOMA CITY – Republican voters will head to the polls on Tuesday, Aug. 27, to decide which candidates will hold two southwest Oklahoma offices.
Challenger Ruth Bingham and incumbent Kirk Painter are vying for Grady County commissioner for District 2. Stacy Jo Adams and Andrew Aldridge are competing for state House District 50, currently held by Rep. Marcus McEntire (R-Duncan) who decided to not run for reelection.
Grady County It was a neck-and-neck race for two candidates in the June 18 Republican primary for the Grady County Commissioner District No. 2 seat. Incumbent County Commissioner Kirk Painter pulled in 38.01% of the votes for District 2, with challenger Ruth Bingham at 38.91%. The runoff will decide the winner as no Democrats filed for the position.
In a May 25 interview with Chickasha’s KOOL 105.5 radio personality George Plummer, Painter said, “Serving the people is basically what drives me to run for county commissioner.”
Painter then explained that he made a promise during his initial 2016 campaign that he would like to fulfill.
“I made a promise to the people when I was knocking doors that I would do this for three terms,” he said. “I gave that promise and that’s the only promise I gave them.”
Painter, who has served two terms, said that he wanted one of those three terms to be unopposed, but acknowledged that wasn’t going to happen. He then stated his desire to serve four terms and then retire.
In 2015, the threat of Grady Memorial Hospital being shut down was a grave concern to the up-and-coming commissioner.
“My main goal was to see the hospital thrive and continue,” he said. “I can’t imagine a county this big and a county seat not having a hospital.”
Painter has served as the county commissioner representative on the hospital board for the last several years.
Looking towards 2025, he wants to see the community renew the one-eighth of a percent sales tax renewed to support the county volunteer fire departments.
“It needs to renew. They (the VFDs) can’t stand alone,” he said.
Ruth Bingham, who is challenging Painter for the seat, agreed with him on the May 25 “KOOL Conversation ” with Plummer regarding the VFD sales tax percentage renewal.
“I feel strongly about the sales tax issues,” she said. “We as voters voted in a quarter cent percentage for the hospital and a quarter cent for the fairgrounds. We voted in one-eighth of a percent for the volunteer fire departments and for the senior centers.
“As a county we need to work with all our communities to bring in more businesses so that people spend their money here in town and therefore those tax dollars are then sent out to these four entities to use, as they need, for their business.”
Bingham said concerns about procedures being followed in the county is why she put her name in the hat for the District 2 seat. She considered running for election for about a year.
“I felt like I needed to do something for my community,” she said.
Bingham is a lifelong Chickasha and Grady County resident who currently serves as first deputy to Grady County Treasurer Robin Burton. State House District 50 The Aug. 27 Republican runoff will determine the successor to Rep. Marcus McEntire (R-Duncan), as no Democrats filed to seek election. The district includes Stephens and Jefferson counties.
Vying for the seat are Stacy Jo Adams and Andrew Aldridge.
Adams was favored by a small percentage in Stephens County and Aldridge was favored in Jefferson County, according to the Oklahoma State Election Board official results.
Adams is an insurance agent and small business owner in Duncan. She’s from a military family and graduated from Cameron University in Lawton. She and her husband, Ricky, have been married for 14 years and they have seven sons. She has an “A” rating and is endorsed by the Oklahoma Second Amendment Association and by Oklahomans for Health and Parental Rights.
Aldridge is State Director of Peer Resolution for Oklahoma Students. He is a fifth-generation resident of Stephens County and is pursuing a master’s degree in public and nonprofit management from the University of Central Oklahoma.
He is a member of the National Rifle Association, Duncan Kiwanis Club, Comanche Chamber of Commerce, Duncan Chamber of Commerce and a Board member of Gabriel’s House, an after-school program for children in Duncan and Empire. Aldridge is endorsed by the Oklahoma Rural Schools Coalition and Oklahomans for Public Education. Closed Runoffs Oklahoma has modified closed primaries, which include runoff primaries, the state Election Board’s website states. “In order to participate in a political party’s primary election or runoff primary election, you must be a registered voter of that political party – unless the party opens its primaries to unaffiliated voters, known as Independents. There are three recognized parties in Oklahoma: Republican, Democratic, and Libertarian.”
Early voting will be held from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Aug. 22-23 and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Aug. 24.
Polls will be open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 27.